Irina Livezeanu
Encyclopedia
Irina Livezeanu is a Romania
n-born American
historian. Her research interests include Eastern Europe
, Eastern European Jewry, the Holocaust in Eastern Europe, and modern nationalism
. Several of her publications deal with the history of Romania, Moldova
, and Bessarabia
. Since 1996, she is Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh
. In 2010 she became president of the Society for Romanian Studies
.
, and immigrated to the United States at the age of 17.
She received a B.A.
from Swarthmore College
(1974), and a M.A.
(1979) and a Ph.D (1986) from the University of Michigan
. She began her academic career at Colby College
, where she was an Assistant Professor between 1987 and 1991. Livezeanu was later Assistant Professor at the Ohio State University
(1991–1994), and, between 1994 and 1996, at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1996, she was also Visiting Professor at the Babeş-Bolyai University
in Cluj-Napoca
, Romania.
Her book Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building, and Ethnic Struggle, 1918-1930, published by Cornell University Press
, was awarded Heldt Prize
(1995) by the Association of Women in Slavic Studies. The volume deals with the creation of Greater Romania
during the final years of World War I
and its interwar
history.
Livezeanu was also a Senior Fellow at the New York University
Erich Maria Remarque Institute, a European Studies Fellow at the Library of Congress
John W. Kluge Center
, and a Senior Fellow Collegium Budapest - Institute of Advanced Study. She is also known as a promoter of Romanian cinema
: in 2007, she organized the festival Romanian Cinema on the Edge at the University of Pittsburgh, with assistance from the Romanian Cultural Institute
. It showcased films by Lucian Pintilie
(Reconstituirea), Corneliu Porumboiu
(12:08 East of Bucharest
and The Paper Will Be Blue
), Cristian Mungiu (Occident
), and Cristian Nemescu
(California Dreamin').
Ernest Gellner
, specifically on his definition of nationalism as a product of industrial society
and the emphasis he places on academics having promoted and imposed nationalist theses. She applied Gellner's ideas and concepts to a particular case, that of the predominantly rural Romanian society, and, in this context, linked them to the conclusions of Liah Greenfeld
. According to Greenfeld and Livezeanu, although nationalism was generated by economic and social development in England
, it grew independently from that point on, and was equally able to impose itself in less underdeveloped regions.
Irina Livezeanu applied these concepts to the study case of Greater Romania, and, in particular, to the process of Romanianization
associated with the latter regime. She thus concluded that, although Transylvania
, Bukovina
and Bessarabia
joined the Kingdom of Romania
on the basis of ethnic and cultural links, the governments and cultural establishment in Bucharest also directed a process of centralization
and cultural assimilation
. According to historian Constantin Iordachi, this pro-Romanianization stand was equivalent to "a Kulturkampf
", and often meant "sacrificing democratic
and pluralistic values on the altar of historically-motivated nationalism." Based on the book, University of Tampa
professor Thomas J. Hegarty argued that "Romania's swollen bureaucracy
, in alliance with the nationalist intelligentsia
for whom it provided employment, attempted to compensate for the thinness of ethnic Romanian
urban civil society with an interventionist
strategy of cultural activism." This process was also connected to the underrepresentation of Romanians among the elites of the newly-acquired territories, a situation which, despite Romania having committed itself to the Minority Treaties
a the Paris Peace Conference
, Romanianization policies attempted to overturn.
Irina Livezeanu's analysis was also noted for evidencing the role of alternatives to unionism in the Romanian-inhabited regions of Austria-Hungary
, including House of Habsburg loyalism, advocates of regional autonomy
, and federalists
endorsing the United States of Greater Austria
. She cites examples of Romanian nationalists such as Aurel Popovici
and Constantin Tomaszczuk, whose discourse, standing as an alternative to unionism, was marginalized by most other historians.
Livezeanu has also developed an original take on the rise of fascism
and the far right
in interwar Romania, which she connected with the impact of nationalist discourse in Romanian culture and society. She sees the Iron Guard
, Romania's main fascist group, as an autonomous development, largely independent from its Italian fascist
or Nazi
counterparts, but dependent on its contacts with the local middle class
, bureaucracy and intelligentsia. Building on the conclusions of Israel
i historian Zeev Sternhell
, as well as on her interpretation of texts by fascist politician Nichifor Crainic
, she proposed that Romanian fascism was actually a revolutionary-minded aspect of earlier conservative
nationalism.
In analyzing the transformations undergone in Greater Romania, she also points to the rise in antisemitism as a direct consequence of the land reform
, arguing that the "national issue" (of Romanian versus foreigners) replaced references to the "social issue" (of peasants versus other classes), allowing Romanian nationalists to identify with the peasantry and contrast it with the local Jewish community
. Livezeanu thus indicated that the contrast was generally being made between Romanian peasants and the Jewish element, perceived as not just foreign, but also "cosmopolitan
and capitalist
".
One of Livezeanu's main conclusions deals with the competing social and political projects of the period, and specifically with the contrast between, on one side, the urbane and capitalist goals of National Liberal
theorists such as Ştefan Zeletin, and, on the other, rural protectionist
and populist
ideas both right-wing and left-wing (from the Iron Guard and the peasant theocracy
imagined by Nae Ionescu
to socialist
-influenced Poporanism
). She noted that liberalism
, capitalist integration in the rural sphere, and industrialization had failed to impose themselves by the start of World War I, and that some of the early reforms associated with the National Liberals were in fact censored by protectionists. However, she proposed that the education reform
carried out by the National Liberal politician Spiru Haret
, often seen as a victory of Poporanism, was actually proof of the party having an elaborate plan to modernize
the rural areas. Thus, she argued, the policies of Haret and his colleague Constantin Anghelescu
were partly overturned by supporters of rural protectionism, both populist (Alexandru Averescu
) and fascist (the Iron Guard's National Legionary State
).
Livezeanu's thesis on the birth of Romanian fascism was criticized by Constantin Iordachi, who argued that the link between the local middle class and far right movement was only obvious in the cases of fascist intellectuals such as Nae Ionescu and Crainic, whereas the Iron Guard is known to have engaged in an open conflict and, eventually, a bloody battle with moderate nationalist groupings. He nonetheless praised Cultural Politics in Greater Romania for its innovative approach, while noting that: "the examination of the civil society
concept in the interwar context presents a special interest for contemporary Romanian society, given that it evidences the measure in which the obsession over historical justice, the excessive centralization, xenophobia
and ethnocentrism
undermine the development of democratic pluralism, alienate any potential sentiment of loyalty the national minorities might have toward the Romanian state, bereaving Romanian society of important creative forces." Historian Ovidiu Pecican
also cited Livezeanu's study, alongside those of Jean Ancel, as evidence that the image of interwar Romania as "solely nimbed by the progresses following stately unification" needed to be amended.
At a conference hosted by the Romanian Cultural Institute
in 2007, Livezeanu spoke against what she called "historic and historiographic
autarky
" in contemporary Romanian culture
, arguing that it was a still-surviving consequence of censorship
imposed by the Romanian communist regime
. She proposed that the reemergence of nationalist themes in writing history after the Revolution of 1989
was owed to the ongoing influence of various "nationalist-communist
" ideologues, as well as to the prominence of nationalist thinkers during the interwar, but argued that the phenomenon was on the decline, and that younger Romanian historians were able to relate to such topics "as mere researchers". She argued that, given the moment, "I believe that any study which would question and deconstruct
rather than defend, excuse or accuse various institutions [...] is worth the effort."
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
historian. Her research interests include Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
, Eastern European Jewry, the Holocaust in Eastern Europe, and modern nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
. Several of her publications deal with the history of Romania, Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
, and Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
. Since 1996, she is Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
. In 2010 she became president of the Society for Romanian Studies
Society for Romanian Studies
The Society for Romanian Studies is an organization focusing on the academic study of various elements of Romanian society and culture. It considers itself "the major US-based professional organization for scholars concerned with Romania and Moldova."...
.
Biography
Livezeanu was born in BucharestBucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, and immigrated to the United States at the age of 17.
She received a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
(1974), and a M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
(1979) and a Ph.D (1986) from the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. She began her academic career at Colby College
Colby College
Colby College is a private liberal arts college located on Mayflower Hill in Waterville, Maine. Founded in 1813, it is the 12th-oldest independent liberal arts college in the United States...
, where she was an Assistant Professor between 1987 and 1991. Livezeanu was later Assistant Professor at the Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
(1991–1994), and, between 1994 and 1996, at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1996, she was also Visiting Professor at the Babeş-Bolyai University
Babes-Bolyai University
The Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca is an university in Romania. With almost 50,000 students, the university offers 105 specialisations, of which there are 105 in Romanian, 67 in Hungarian, 17 in German, and 5 in English...
in Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
, Romania.
Her book Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building, and Ethnic Struggle, 1918-1930, published by Cornell University Press
Cornell University Press
The Cornell University Press, established in 1869 but inactive from 1884 to 1930, was the first university publishing enterprise in the United States.A division of Cornell University, it is housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage....
, was awarded Heldt Prize
Heldt Prize
' is a literary award from the Association for Women in Slavic Studies named in honor of Barbara Heldt. The award has been given variously in the following categories:*Best book in Slavic/Eastern European/Eurasian Women's Studies...
(1995) by the Association of Women in Slavic Studies. The volume deals with the creation of Greater Romania
Greater Romania
The Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First World War and the Second World War, the largest geographical extent of Romania up to that time and its largest peacetime extent ever ; more precisely, it refers to the territory of the Kingdom of...
during the final years of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and its interwar
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
history.
Livezeanu was also a Senior Fellow at the New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
Erich Maria Remarque Institute, a European Studies Fellow at the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
John W. Kluge Center
John W. Kluge Center
The John W. Kluge Center occupies study and meeting spaces within the Library of Congress' restored Thomas Jefferson Building. The Center brings together a group of 21 international scholars, the Kluge Scholars' Council, to stimulate, energize, and distill wisdom from the rich resources of the...
, and a Senior Fellow Collegium Budapest - Institute of Advanced Study. She is also known as a promoter of Romanian cinema
Cinema of Romania
The cinema of Romania is the art of motion-picture making within the nation of Romania or by Romanian filmmakers abroad.As upon much of the world's early cinema, the ravages of time have left their mark upon Romanian film prints. Tens of titles have been destroyed or lost for good...
: in 2007, she organized the festival Romanian Cinema on the Edge at the University of Pittsburgh, with assistance from the Romanian Cultural Institute
Romanian Cultural Institute
The Romanian Cultural Institute is a state-funded institution that promotes Romanian culture and civilization in Romania and abroad. The ICR was formerly set up through reorganization of the Romanian Cultural Foundation and Romanian Cultural Publishing Foundation...
. It showcased films by Lucian Pintilie
Lucian Pintilie
-Filmography:* Duminică la ora şase * Reconstituirea * Salonul numărul 6 * De ce trag clopotele, Mitică? - see also the "Portrayals and tributes" section at Mitică* Balanţa * O vară de neuitat * Prea târziu...
(Reconstituirea), Corneliu Porumboiu
Corneliu Porumboiu
Corneliu Porumboiu is a Romanian film director and screenwriter. His 2006 feature 12:08 East of Bucharest won him the Camera d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival...
(12:08 East of Bucharest
12:08 East of Bucharest
12:08 East of Bucharest is a 2006 Romanian film directed by Corneliu Porumboiu, released in 2006 and winner of the Camera d'Or Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It was also released in the United States under the abridged titles East of Bucharest and 12:08 Bucharest...
and The Paper Will Be Blue
The Paper Will Be Blue
The Paper Will Be Blue is a 2006 Romanian film written and directed by Radu Muntean. The film was nominated for the 2006 Golden Leopard award at Locarno International Film Festival.-Plot:...
), Cristian Mungiu (Occident
Occident (film)
Occident is a Romanian film released in 2002, and directed by Cristian Mungiu. It stars Alexandru Papadopol as a 29-year old man named Luci and Anca Androne as his wife Sorina...
), and Cristian Nemescu
Cristian Nemescu
Cristian Nemescu was a Romanian film director.Nemescu was born in Bucharest. He graduated from the Academy for Theater and Film in 2003. During his final year in the academy he made a short film, Story From The Third Block Entrance, that received awards at the NYU International Student Film...
(California Dreamin').
Views and contributions
In analyzing nationalist successes in early 20th century Romania (Cultural Politics in Greater Romania), Irina Livezeanu builds on the theories of American social anthropologistSocial anthropology
Social Anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive field studies , the social organization of a particular person: customs,...
Ernest Gellner
Ernest Gellner
Ernest André Gellner was a philosopher and social anthropologist, described by The Daily Telegraph when he died as one of the world's most vigorous intellectuals and by The Independent as a "one-man crusade for critical rationalism."His first book, Words and Things —famously, and uniquely...
, specifically on his definition of nationalism as a product of industrial society
Industrial society
In sociology, industrial society refers to a society driven by the use of technology to enable mass production, supporting a large population with a high capacity for division of labour. Such a structure developed in the west in the period of time following the Industrial Revolution, and replaced...
and the emphasis he places on academics having promoted and imposed nationalist theses. She applied Gellner's ideas and concepts to a particular case, that of the predominantly rural Romanian society, and, in this context, linked them to the conclusions of Liah Greenfeld
Liah Greenfeld
Liah Greenfeld is a professor of Political Science and Sociology and the Director of the Institute for the Advancement of the Social Sciences at Boston University....
. According to Greenfeld and Livezeanu, although nationalism was generated by economic and social development in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, it grew independently from that point on, and was equally able to impose itself in less underdeveloped regions.
Irina Livezeanu applied these concepts to the study case of Greater Romania, and, in particular, to the process of Romanianization
Romanianization
Romanianization or Rumanization is the term used to describe a number of ethnic assimilation policies implemented by the Romanian authorities during the 20th century...
associated with the latter regime. She thus concluded that, although Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, Bukovina
Bukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
and Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
joined the Kingdom of Romania
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
on the basis of ethnic and cultural links, the governments and cultural establishment in Bucharest also directed a process of centralization
Centralized government
A centralized or centralised government is one in which power or legal authority is exerted or coordinated by a de facto political executive to which federal states, local authorities, and smaller units are considered subject...
and cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
. According to historian Constantin Iordachi, this pro-Romanianization stand was equivalent to "a Kulturkampf
Kulturkampf
The German term refers to German policies in relation to secularity and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck. The Kulturkampf did not extend to the other German states such as Bavaria...
", and often meant "sacrificing democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and pluralistic values on the altar of historically-motivated nationalism." Based on the book, University of Tampa
University of Tampa
The University of Tampa , is a private, co-educational university in Downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. In 2006, the University celebrated its 75th anniversary...
professor Thomas J. Hegarty argued that "Romania's swollen bureaucracy
Bureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
, in alliance with the nationalist intelligentsia
Intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
for whom it provided employment, attempted to compensate for the thinness of ethnic Romanian
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
urban civil society with an interventionist
Interventionism
Interventionism may refer to:*Interventionism is a political term for significant activity undertaken by a state to influence something not directly under its control....
strategy of cultural activism." This process was also connected to the underrepresentation of Romanians among the elites of the newly-acquired territories, a situation which, despite Romania having committed itself to the Minority Treaties
Minority Treaties
Minority Treaties refer to the treaties, League of Nations Mandates, and unilateral declarations made by countries applying for membership in the League of Nations and United Nations...
a the Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
, Romanianization policies attempted to overturn.
Irina Livezeanu's analysis was also noted for evidencing the role of alternatives to unionism in the Romanian-inhabited regions of Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, including House of Habsburg loyalism, advocates of regional autonomy
Regional autonomy
Regional autonomy is the term for the decentralization of governance to outlying regions. Recent examples of disputes over autonomy include:* The Basque region of Spain* The Catalonian region of Spain...
, and federalists
Federalism
Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and...
endorsing the United States of Greater Austria
United States of Greater Austria
The United States of Greater Austria was an idea created by a group of scholars surrounding the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand that never came to pass...
. She cites examples of Romanian nationalists such as Aurel Popovici
Aurel Popovici
Aurel C. Popovici was an ethnic Romanian Austro-Hungarian lawyer and politician of Serb origin...
and Constantin Tomaszczuk, whose discourse, standing as an alternative to unionism, was marginalized by most other historians.
Livezeanu has also developed an original take on the rise of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and the far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
in interwar Romania, which she connected with the impact of nationalist discourse in Romanian culture and society. She sees the Iron Guard
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...
, Romania's main fascist group, as an autonomous development, largely independent from its Italian fascist
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
or Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
counterparts, but dependent on its contacts with the local middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
, bureaucracy and intelligentsia. Building on the conclusions of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i historian Zeev Sternhell
Zeev Sternhell
Zeev Sternhell is an Israeli historian and one of the world's leading experts on Fascism. Sternhell headed the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and writes for Haaretz newspaper.-Biography:...
, as well as on her interpretation of texts by fascist politician Nichifor Crainic
Nichifor Crainic
Nichifor Crainic was a Romanian writer, editor, philosopher, poet and theologian famed for his traditionalist and antisemitic activities...
, she proposed that Romanian fascism was actually a revolutionary-minded aspect of earlier conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
nationalism.
In analyzing the transformations undergone in Greater Romania, she also points to the rise in antisemitism as a direct consequence of the land reform
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
, arguing that the "national issue" (of Romanian versus foreigners) replaced references to the "social issue" (of peasants versus other classes), allowing Romanian nationalists to identify with the peasantry and contrast it with the local Jewish community
History of the Jews in Romania
The history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....
. Livezeanu thus indicated that the contrast was generally being made between Romanian peasants and the Jewish element, perceived as not just foreign, but also "cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism is the ideology that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality. This is contrasted with communitarian and particularistic theories, especially the ideas of patriotism and nationalism...
and capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
".
One of Livezeanu's main conclusions deals with the competing social and political projects of the period, and specifically with the contrast between, on one side, the urbane and capitalist goals of National Liberal
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
theorists such as Ştefan Zeletin, and, on the other, rural protectionist
Protectionism
Protectionism is the economic policy of restraining trade between states through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, and a variety of other government regulations designed to allow "fair competition" between imports and goods and services produced domestically.This...
and populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
ideas both right-wing and left-wing (from the Iron Guard and the peasant theocracy
Theocracy
Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
imagined by Nae Ionescu
Nae Ionescu
Nae Ionescu was a Romanian philosopher, logician, mathematician, professor, and journalist. Near the end of his career, he became known for his antisemitism and devotion to far right politics, in the years leading up to World War II.-Life:...
to socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
-influenced Poporanism
Poporanism
The word “poporanism” is derived from “popor”, meaning “people” in the Romanian language. The ideology of Romanian Populism and poporanism are interchangeable. Founded by Constantin Stere in the early 1890s, populism is distinguished by its opposition to socialism, promotion of voting rights for...
). She noted that liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
, capitalist integration in the rural sphere, and industrialization had failed to impose themselves by the start of World War I, and that some of the early reforms associated with the National Liberals were in fact censored by protectionists. However, she proposed that the education reform
Education reform
Education reform is the process of improving public education. Small improvements in education theoretically have large social returns, in health, wealth and well-being. Historically, reforms have taken different forms because the motivations of reformers have differed.A continuing motivation has...
carried out by the National Liberal politician Spiru Haret
Spiru Haret
Spiru C. Haret was a Romanian mathematician, astronomer and politician. He made a fundamental contribution to the n-body problem in celestial mechanics by proving that using a third degree approximation for the disturbing forces implies instability of the major axes of the orbits, and by...
, often seen as a victory of Poporanism, was actually proof of the party having an elaborate plan to modernize
Modernization
In the social sciences, modernization or modernisation refers to a model of an evolutionary transition from a 'pre-modern' or 'traditional' to a 'modern' society. The teleology of modernization is described in social evolutionism theories, existing as a template that has been generally followed by...
the rural areas. Thus, she argued, the policies of Haret and his colleague Constantin Anghelescu
Constantin Anghelescu
Constantin Angelescu was a Romanian politician who served as an interim Prime Minister of Romania for five days, between 30 December 1933 and 3 January 1934....
were partly overturned by supporters of rural protectionism, both populist (Alexandru Averescu
Alexandru Averescu
Alexandru Averescu was a Romanian marshal and populist politician. A Romanian Armed Forces Commander during World War I, he served as Prime Minister of three separate cabinets . He first rose to prominence during the peasant's revolt of 1907, which he helped repress in violence...
) and fascist (the Iron Guard's National Legionary State
National Legionary State
The National Legionary State was the Romanian government from September 6, 1940 to January 23, 1941. It was a single-party regime dictatorship dominated by the overtly fascist Iron Guard in uneasy conjunction with the head of government and Conducător Ion Antonescu, the leader of the Romanian...
).
Livezeanu's thesis on the birth of Romanian fascism was criticized by Constantin Iordachi, who argued that the link between the local middle class and far right movement was only obvious in the cases of fascist intellectuals such as Nae Ionescu and Crainic, whereas the Iron Guard is known to have engaged in an open conflict and, eventually, a bloody battle with moderate nationalist groupings. He nonetheless praised Cultural Politics in Greater Romania for its innovative approach, while noting that: "the examination of the civil society
Civil society
Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...
concept in the interwar context presents a special interest for contemporary Romanian society, given that it evidences the measure in which the obsession over historical justice, the excessive centralization, xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
and ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own. The ethnocentric individual will judge other groups relative to his or her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with...
undermine the development of democratic pluralism, alienate any potential sentiment of loyalty the national minorities might have toward the Romanian state, bereaving Romanian society of important creative forces." Historian Ovidiu Pecican
Ovidiu Pecican
Ovidiu Coriolan Pecican is a Romanian historian, essayist, novelist, short-story writer, literary critic, poet, playwright, and journalist...
also cited Livezeanu's study, alongside those of Jean Ancel, as evidence that the image of interwar Romania as "solely nimbed by the progresses following stately unification" needed to be amended.
At a conference hosted by the Romanian Cultural Institute
Romanian Cultural Institute
The Romanian Cultural Institute is a state-funded institution that promotes Romanian culture and civilization in Romania and abroad. The ICR was formerly set up through reorganization of the Romanian Cultural Foundation and Romanian Cultural Publishing Foundation...
in 2007, Livezeanu spoke against what she called "historic and historiographic
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
autarky
Autarky
Autarky is the quality of being self-sufficient. Usually the term is applied to political states or their economic policies. Autarky exists whenever an entity can survive or continue its activities without external assistance. Autarky is not necessarily economic. For example, a military autarky...
" in contemporary Romanian culture
Culture of Romania
Romania has a unique culture, which is the product of its geography and of its distinct historical evolution. Like Romanians themselves, it is defined as the meeting point of three regions: Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans, but cannot be truly included in any of them...
, arguing that it was a still-surviving consequence of censorship
Censorship in Communist Romania
Censorship in Communist Romania was widespread and virtually every published document, be it a newspaper article or a book, had to pass the censor's approval...
imposed by the Romanian communist regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
. She proposed that the reemergence of nationalist themes in writing history after the Revolution of 1989
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
was owed to the ongoing influence of various "nationalist-communist
National communism
The term National Communism describes the ethnic minority communist currents that arose in the former Russian Empire after Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik Party seized power in October 1917....
" ideologues, as well as to the prominence of nationalist thinkers during the interwar, but argued that the phenomenon was on the decline, and that younger Romanian historians were able to relate to such topics "as mere researchers". She argued that, given the moment, "I believe that any study which would question and deconstruct
Deconstruction
Deconstruction is a term introduced by French philosopher Jacques Derrida in his 1967 book Of Grammatology. Although he carefully avoided defining the term directly, he sought to apply Martin Heidegger's concept of Destruktion or Abbau, to textual reading...
rather than defend, excuse or accuse various institutions [...] is worth the effort."
Works
- Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building, and Ethnic Struggle, 1918–1930, Cornell University PressCornell University PressThe Cornell University Press, established in 1869 but inactive from 1884 to 1930, was the first university publishing enterprise in the United States.A division of Cornell University, it is housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage....
, 1995 and 2000. ISBN 0801486882 - with June Pachuta Farris, Mary Zirin, Christine D. Worobec, Eds.: Women & Gender in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Eurasia: A Comprehensive Bibliography, M.E. Sharpe, 2007. ISBN 0765607379
- Cultură şi naţionalism în România Mare, 1918-1930, HumanitasHumanitas publishing houseHumanitas is an independent Romanian publishing house, founded on February 1, 1990 in Bucharest by the philosopher Gabriel Liiceanu...
, 1998. ISBN 9732808659