Irina Culic

From amateur revolutionaries to professional politicians : The transformation of the romanian political elite, 1990-2004

Focusing on the social characteristics and personal biographies of the members of the Romanian Parliament, this article examines the reconstitution of the Romanian political elite, and its change alongside and in interaction with changes throughout the social, political, and economic system. An analysis of longitudinal data covering all Romanian Parliaments from 1990 to 2004 reveals a transformation of the profile and strategies of parties and their representatives toward professionalization of their political performance and a more coherent intertwining of their economic interests with the political game.

Dilemmas of belonging: Hungarians from Romania

On 5 December 2004 the citizens of Hungary were called to decide through referendum on two issues: (1) that the health system remained under full state control, and (2) that ethnic Hungarians living in the neighboring countries were granted citizenship preferentially. Sixty-five percent of the Hungarians who went to vote gave a favorable answer to the first question, and a little more than 51% gave a yes answer to the second question. Despite this, however, the referendum failed because of the low voter turnout of only 37.49% of the electorate. According to Hungarian law, for a referendum result to be valid it is required that at least 25% of the electorate endorses it. In this referendum a little less than 19% of all franchised citizens voted for granting double citizenship to ethnic Hungarians living in the neighboring countries. The result of the referendum surprised, disappointed and scandalized Hungarians in Transylvania. Tens of Hungarians from Szeklerland declared that they would return the certificate of Hungarian nationality, and some of them even did it. In Miercurea Ciuc, three days after the referendum, a group of approximately one hundred Hungarians held several minutes of silence for the Hungarian nation in front of the Catholic church “Millenium.” They displayed a black flag, a Hungarian flag adorned with a black ribbon, and a poster with the map of Great Hungary from which the territory of present Hungary had been cut out. On another poster somebody had written: “We were cheated twice, but with the help of God we remained Hungarians.” The Szeklers’ anthem was sung, and in several churches, it replaced the Hungarian anthem. At the end of the manifestation part of the participants retired into the church to pray for the Hungarian nation. Other reactions were more radical. A Hungarian professor declared that he would refuse to teach any longer in the Hungarian language. The owner of a bar in Odorheiu-Secuiesc posted a note on the door prohibiting the access of Hungarian citizens. In the open letter sent on 7 December 2004 by the leadership of the County Council of Harghita to its related counties in Hungary, those who had voted against double citizenship were warned that they would not be greeted like brothers in the county of Harghita. Many Hungarians from Hungary gave up their winter holidays in Transylvania and stayed at home, while inns and hotels in Szeklerland advertised free rooms to Hungarians from Romania, Romanians, Germans or any other people who were good at heart. Such reactions are symptomatic for the present state of diversification, multiplication and fragmentation of the institutional and symbolic sources of claim, use and Nationalities Papers, Vol. 34, No. 2, May 2006

Neoliberalism Meets Minority Nationalism: The Politics of Hungarian Higher Education in Romania

A Hungarian public university was one of the main demands of the leaders of Hungarians from Romania after the fall of the communist regime in 1989. Almost three decades later, higher education in Hungarian has developed into a precarious, fragmented, and divided institutional assemblage, solidified around two main components, the Hungarian line of study at the well-established public Babeș-Bolyai University and the new private university Sapientia, reliant on the Hungarian government’s financial support. The article investigates how Hungarians from Romania, whose persistent ethnic politics brought them extensive recognition, and who were successful in creating a Hungarian parallel society, failed to converge in achieving one of their most important goals. By unpacking this case of intra-ethnic unmixing, it shows how institutional arrangements affect the stakes and means of the struggle for minority rights, and how structural asymmetry in numbers and power carries disadvantage into the life of institutions.