Revolution, democratic transition and disillusionment: The case of Romania (Perspectives on Democratic Practice)

This book, available at last in paperback, develops a fresh and challenging perspective on the transition from communism to capitalism. Drawing on a wide and diverse range of material and texts, it argues that transition and democratisation studies should turn their attention towards processes of illusion formation and disillusionment as key to understanding the shift from one ideological framework to another. The author provides alternative approaches to otherwise classical sites of examination of social change – such as revolutions and the emergence of civil society – and proposes a number of new possible sites by analysing the politics of self-reflection, the element of shock inherent in any transition and the role of visual narratives in negotiating change. The chapters are inspired by unique interviews and discussions with the leaders of the Timisoara Revolution, the Group of Social Dialogue – the first civil society organisation in post-communist Romania, the leading author of the 'Presidential Report Analysing the Communist Dictatorship in Romania' – and an innovative group of photographers tracing the Romanian transition through images. This book develops a fresh and challenging perspective on the transition from communism to capitalism. Drawing on a wide and diverse range of material and texts, it argues that transition and democratization studies should turn their attention towards processes of illusion formation and disillusionment as key to understanding the shift from one ideological framework to another. The author provides alternative approaches to otherwise classical sites of examination of social change--such as revolutions and the emergence of civil society--and proposes a number of new possible sites by analyzing the politics of self-reflection, the element of shock inherent in any transition and the role of visual narratives in negotiating change Revolution, democratic transition and disillusionment 1 Half Title Page 2 Title Page 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Illustrations 9 Acknowledgements 10 1 Introduction 12 2 Between the past and the future: Romania, seventeen years into its transition 17 3 An anatomy of disillusionment 40 4 Shock and transitions 65 5 The illusions and disillusions of the Romanian Revolution: the case of the Timisoara revolutionaries 98 6 The illusions and disillusions of civil society: the case of the Group for Social Dialogue 148 7 Representing illusions and disillusions: a visual narrative of the Romanian transition to capitalism 185 8 Conclusion 217 Bibliography 225 Index 238 Using Romania as a case study, this book develops a fresh perspective on the transition from communism to capitalism by arguing that transition and democratisation studies should turn their attention towards processes of illusion formation and disillusionment as key to understanding the shift from one ideological framework to another. -- .