The use of violence during the beginning of the Romanian democratization process

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14198/pasado.26182

Keywords:

Eastern Europe, Romania, Postcommunism, Democratising process, National Salvation Front, Violence, XXth Century

Abstract

The end of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe occurred relatively peacefully, except when it comes to Romania. In the aforementioned country, the dictatorship had been characterized by the vast use of repression to solve any trace of the opposition and its end came through the revolutionary events of December 1989, when a significant number of people lost their lives. The new authorities, who filled the power vacuum left by the Romanian Communist Party, made use of rumours and fear to have the population under their control and emerge as the leaders and saviours of the Revolution of December 1989. A substantial part of them had been involved in the politics of the previous regime and were aware of these techniques perfectly. Notwithstanding, they could not continue to simply count on it and in the following months, they began to use, whenever they considered it appropriate, different violent actions to call out the voices that disagreed with them, while the image of the country and its democratic credibility crumpled abroad. Therefore, throughout the pages of this paper, we are going to examine how the new Romanian authorities used the violence to gain political control of the country and maintain it.

Funding

El autor es contratado posdoctoral con un Proyecto de Investigación Novel-Contrato Puente del PPIT-UAL, Junta de Andalucía-FEDER 2021-2027. Programa 54.A. Este trabajo se ha realizado en el ámbito del Grupo de Investigación «Estudios del Tiempo Presente» (PAI HUM-756) y del Centro de Investigación «Comunicación y Sociedad» de la Universidad de Almería (CySoc).

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Published

29-07-2024

How to Cite

Tudorica, A. F. (2024). The use of violence during the beginning of the Romanian democratization process. Pasado Y Memoria. Revista De Historia Contemporánea, (29), 371–393. https://doi.org/10.14198/pasado.26182