Central and Eastern Europe at the beginning of the ’90s. The Romanian case

December 1, 2013

Author: Marcela Salagean & Doru Todorescu

The end of the ninth decade of the 20th century brought a change of actors and the change of the balance of power in Central and Eastern Europe. In this complicated context, in which internal crises could not be controlled any longer through reform attempts made by the representatives of the communist regime, the decisive impulse came from East Germany. Soon afterwards, the events followed the “domino principle” and the totalitarian regimes in Central and Eastern Europe collapsed within the interval of June-December 1989. A political system was replaced by another that brought with it profound changes in all sectors of political, economic, social and cultural life. And postcommunism transition was supposed to be a process of liberation towards a set of free chosen alternative futures. Regarding Romania’s, the country’s evolution was dramatically influenced by the ideas of democracy and modernity of its leader and by the systematic attempts of the representatives of the old regime to keep their dominant positions. And, for this reason, the transition was more difficult in Romania than in other former communist states of Central Europe. Even though Romania underwent a difficult period in the early years after the fall of the communism, it is certain that the country has embarked on a new road, aiming the modernization and europenization,