UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, 7th Annual International Postgraduate Conference

Inclusion Exclusion

16-18th February 2006

Saturday 18 February 10:00 – 11:30: Panel H1: Identity and Nation

Catalina Guragata (Free University of Brussels): ‘What kind of nationalism for the Republic of Moldova?’

The Republic of Moldova, a former Soviet Republic, presents a particular political situation, some would say even unique. Following various upheavals of history, the Moldavian society is now composed of two main ethnical groups (the Romanophones and the Russopones), while the official language of the Republic is Moldavian (that in fact is Romanian).

Linked to this linguistic paradox, the political scene is dominated, since the country’s independence (1991), by a competition between two groups of political forces. This competition is structured not around the explicitly ethnical or economical, and class cleavages, but around a politically constructed issue, which is the language. Thus, the political parties opened the battle and keep alive a certain rivalry through an identity discourse: the Romanian identity discourse vs. the Moldavian identity discourse.

Problem

In spite of the fact that the political parties are the expression of pre-existent cleavages in the society (ethno-linguistical), they yet define political issues and constitute their own collective identity as an opposition group to other political parties pursuing specific political objectives.

The objective of the analysis is to examine to what extend the creation of partisan identities around the cultural identity or the defense of an identity cause, fulfills an instrumental - utilitarian function. In other words, we intend to discuss to what extend the identity issue is a political issue, a political resource (means) in the pursuit of political goals and projects.

The analysis is built around the hypothesis that the identity discourse has an instrumental character. The reference to identity is a political recourse, a means for maximizing the electoral vote, the accession to power, or the maintenance of it. In other terms, the political parties mobilise and use the identity discourse for rational political purposes. The issue is the power.

In order to demonstrate this supposition, we will focus on the nature of the «nationalism(s)» in Moldova and on the impact of the « nationalist » political discourse in the Moldavian political parties’ configuration. The discussion will focus on the terms of « nation », « people », « neam » used by the political parties in their attempt to define the collective identity in Moldova and on the term « nationalism ».

We will analyse those terms pursuing the following questions: How are the relations between the individuals and the nation represented and expressed by the political parties? What is the meaning of the concepts of «nation», «neam», «people», and «nationalism» given by different political parties’ leaders or members? Is there some disagreement or continuity among the meanings that they give to those concepts through time? What are the contradictions that exist between different positions of the political parties on these issues?

By structuring the analysis following these questions we will be able to demonstrate that behind the identity discourse, the Moldavian political parties, still expressing the structural cleavages, are oriented, as organizations, towards electoral success.