Suchergebnisse

FIVE YEARS AFTER THE "DECEMBER BREAKTHROUGH," ROMANIA STILL STRUGGLES TO FIND DEMOCRACY. WHILE MANY THOUGHT THAT THE 1989 REVOLUTION IN ROMANIA WAS BOTH THE MOST BLOODY AND THE MOST COMPLETE, THE PASSAGE OF TIME HAS SEEN MANY COMMUNISTS, SECRET POLICE AGENTS, AND CRONIES OF THE EXECUTED PRESIDENT NICOLAE CEAUSESCU RISE TO HIGH POSITIONS IN THE GOVERNMENT AND IN BUSINESS. THE RULING COALITION LED BY ION ILIESCU HAS DEMONSTRATED A DISDAIN FOR OPPOSITION AND A PENCHANT FOR ANTI-SEMITISM AND ANTI-LIBERALISM AS WELL AS A WILLINGNESS TO PLAY ON ETHNIC RIVALRIES TO REMAIN IN POWER. THE STRUGGLES OF DEMOCRACY IN ROMANIA DEMONSTRATE A GENERAL WEAKNESS OF CIVIL SOCIETY.

UNLIKE THE OTHER EAST EUROPEAN REVOLUTIONS, THE ROMANIAN ONE WAS EXTREMELY VIOLENT. IT CULMINATED IN THE DISSOLUTION OF ALL PARTY AND GOVERNMENT STRUCTURES AS WELL AS THE DOWNFALL OF A DESPISED RULING FAMILY. BUT THE DRASTIC NATURE OF THESE EVENTS WAS SADLY CONSISTENT. THE MAGNITUDE OF THE COLLECTIVE DECOMPRESSION WAS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO THE AMOUNT OF REPRESSION ACCUMULATED IN MORE THAN FORTY YEARS OF PROLETARIAN DICTATORSHIP. BEREFT OF POWER AND AUTHORITY, THE COMMUNIST PARTY SIMPLY COLLAPSED. IT ESSENTIALLY DISAPPEARED THE MOMENT CEAUSESCU AND HIS WIFE FLED FROM THE ROOF OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE BUILDING ON DECEMBER 22, 1989.

THE OPPOSITION MOVEMENT OF THE 1980'S IN THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC BEGAN AS PACIFISM SUPPORTED BY THE EVANGELICAL CHURCH. SINCE THE MID-1980'S, IT HAS NOT ONLY BECOME INCREASINGLY CONCERNED WITH THE MILITARIZATION OF PUBLIC LIFE INTERNALLY AND THE THREAT OF NUCLEAR ANNIHILATION BUT HAS ALSO INSISTED THAT TRUE PEACE BOTH DOMESTICALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY REQUIRES THE OBSERVANCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS, INCLUDING POLITICAL RIGHTS, ON THE PART OF THE EAST GERMAN REGIME. TOGETHER, THE VARIOUS PACIFIST, ECOLOGICAL, AND OTHER GROUPS REPRESENT A NASCENT CIVIL SOCIETY.

THE NATIONAL SALVATION FRONT THAT CAME TO POWER IN THE AFTERMATH OF ROMANIA'S DECEMBER 1989 REVOLUTION SHOWS DISTURBING SIGNS OF RELYING ON SOME OF THE TECHNIQUES AND POLICIES OF THE LATE DICTATOR NICOLAE CEAUSESCU. NEVERTHELESS, THE NEW DEMOCRATIC TRAPPINGS MAY YET ACQUIRE SUBSTANCE.