European Influence in Modova : The role of the European Union on nation-building in Moldova

Seeters, Marieke van

European Influence in Modova : The role of the European Union on nation-building in Moldova

Files

2010 Seeters.pdf (1.99 MB)

Authors

Seeters, Marieke van

Issue Date

2010-03

Language

en

Abstract

The past decades the European continent faced several major changes. Geographical changes but also political, economical and social-cultural shifts. One of the most debated topics is the European Union and its impact on and outside the continent. This thesis is about the external influence of the EU, on one of the countries which borders the EU directly; Moldova. Before its independency from the Soviet Union in 1991, it never existed as a sovereign state. Moldova was one of the countries which were carved out of history by the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact in 1940 as it became a Soviet State. The Soviet ideology was based on the creation of a separate Moldovan republic formed by an artificial Moldovan nation. Although the territory of the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic was a former part of the Romanian province Bessarabia, the Soviets emphasized the unique and distinct culture of the Moldovans. To underline this uniqueness they changed the Moldovan writing from Latin to Cyrillic to make Moldovans more distinct from Romanians. When Moldova became independent in 1991, the country struggled with questions about its national identity, including its continued existence as a separate nation. In the 1990s some Moldovan politicians focussed on the option of reintegration in a Greater Romania. However this did not work out as expected, or at least hoped for, because the many years under Soviet rule and delinkage from Romania had changed Moldovan society deeply. Most of the Moldovans were quite happy with Moldova as a sovereign state. In 2001, the communist party became the governing party and its leader Vladimir Voronin president. Their policy was based on the Soviet notion of the unique Moldovan culture. This position made the relationship with Romania tenser.

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/3017

Supervisor

Rutten, M.M.E.M.

Faculty

Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen