THE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE OF ROMANIAN ANTI-AMERICANISM: AMBIVALENCE AND/OR “SLOUGH OF RESENTFUL DESPOND”

Authors

  • Gabriel C. GHERASIM Lecturer PhD, Department of International Relations and German Studies, Faculty of European Studies, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: gabriel.gherasim@ubbcluj.ro. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2019-6288

Keywords:

Romanian anti-Americanism, cultural anti-Americanism, economic anti-Americanism, psychological anti-Americanism, religious anti-Americanism

Abstract

The Romanian attitudes and perceptions towards the role(s) that the United States of America have been playing in contemporary politics and history in their relationship with the Romanian state and nation could be roughly characterized as ambiguous and diffuse; accordingly, no well-founded cognitive approaches are possible in terms of rigorously descriptive and explanatory accounts. At best, the overall Romanian (mis)representations about the United States could be depicted as ambivalent, context-dependant and essentially emotional. The present working hypothesis on the facets of Romanian anti-Americanism aims at unveiling and analyzing the most plausible forms of its manifestations based on either positive and favorable Romanian responses to the American presence and commitment, or negative, critical and repulsive Romanian attitudes towards the United States regarding certain indicative analytical elements. It goes without saying that such an approach using other illustrative ingredients is also possible in the argumentative case of Romanian Americanism; as far as the scope of the present study is concerned, I will attempt to distinguish between four distinctive forms of Romanian anti-Americanism: cultural and ideological, economic, psychological and, finally, religious.

References

Antohi, Sorin (2001), Mai avem un viitor? România la început de mileniu, Iaşi: Polirom.

Beck, Ulrich (1992), Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity, London: Sage Publications.

Bloom, Allan (1987), The Closing of the American Mind, New York: Simon & Schuster Inc.

Borbély, Ştefan (2002), „Sindromul Tony Judt” in Mihăieş, Mircea (ed.), Tony Judt. România: la fundul grămezii, Iaşi: Polirom, 119-128.

Brezianu, Andrei (2002), „Cui prodest?” in Mihăieş, Mircea (ed.), Tony Judt. România: la fundul grămezii, Iaşi: Polirom, 97-111.

Carey, Henry F. (2004), ”Conclusion: Ambiguous Democratization?” in Carey, Henry F. (ed.), Romania since 1989. Politics, Economics, and Society, Lanham, MD.: Lexington Books, 553-618.

Constantiniu, Florin (2002), „Despre Tony Judt şi despre stalinismul în veşmânt democratic” in Mihăieş, Mircea (ed.), Tony Judt. România: la fundul grămezii, Iaşi: Polirom, 129-138.

Dugin, Alexander (2014), Eurasian Mission: An Introduction to Neo-Eurasianism, Arktos Media Ltd.

Eskenasy, Victor (2002), „O analiză lucidă” in Mihăieş, Mircea (ed.), Tony Judt. România: la fundul grămezii, Iaşi: Polirom, 112-115.

Fisch, Max H. (1996), “The Classic Period in American Philosophy” in Fisch, Max H. (ed.), Classic American Philosophers, New York: Fordham University Press, 1-40.

Gabanyi, Anneli Ute (2004), “The New Business Elite: From Nomenklatura to Oligarchy” in Carey, Henry F. (ed.), Romania since 1989. Politics, Economics, and Society, Lanham, MD.: Lexington Books, 353-372.

Hall, Richard A. (2004), “Political Culture in Post-Ceauşescu Romania” in Carey, Henry F. (ed.), Romania since 1989. Politics, Economics, and Society, MD.: Lexington Books, 215-225.

Huntington, Samuel H. (1993), The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

Iorgulescu, Mircea (2002), „Un pic altfel” in Mihăieş, Mircea (ed.), Tony Judt. România: la fundul grămezii, Iaşi: Polirom, 80-96.

Jucan, Marius (2011), “Anti-Americanism in Europe after 9/11. Remapping the U.S. in the European (Social) Imaginary” in Americana Journal vol. VII, no. 2, online.

Jucan, Marius (2001), „La isvoarele studiilor americane în România” in Branda, Alina (ed.), Studii de Americanistică, Cluj Napoca: EFES, i-xxxiii.

Judt, Tony (2001), “Romania: Bottom of the Heap” in The New York Review of Books, November 1.

Krastev, Ivan (2004), “The Anti-American Century?” in Journal of Democracy, vol.15, no. 2, 5-16.

Leuştean, Lucian N. (2009), Orthodoxy and the Cold War. Religion and Political Power in Romania, 1947-65, London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Markovits, Andrei, “European Anti-Americanism (and Anti-Semitism): Ever Present Though Always Denied”, Center for European Studies Working Paper Series no. 108.

Mureşan, Vlad (2012), “Dialectica protestantismului” in Verso, no. 104, 19.

Nemoianu, Virgil (2000), România şi liberalismele ei, Bucureşti: Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Române.

Pacepa, Ion Mihai (2009), “New NATO Country Promotes Anti-Americanism” in Front Page Magazine, March 23.

Phillips, Douglas A. (2010), Global Connections. America’s Role in a Changing World, New York: Chelsea House Publishers.

Roper, Steven D. (2005), Romania: the Unfinished Revolution, Singapore: Harwood Academic Publishers.

Santayana, George (1968), Selected Critical Writings of George Santayana, Vol. 2, edited by Norman Henfrey, New York: Cambridge University Press.

Sellin, Frank (2004), “Democratization in the Shadows: Post-communist Patrimonialism” in Carey, Henry F. (ed.), Romania since 1989. Politics, Economics, and Society, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 117-138.

Soros, George (2008), The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered, New York: Public Affairs.

Stan, Lavinia; Turcescu, Lucian (2007), Religion and Politics in Post-Communist Romania, New York: Oxford University Press.

Tismăneanu, Vladimir (2011), „Rădăcinile ideologice ale fundamentalismului anti-american. Cum se explică 9/11?” in Monitorul, September 12.

Tismăneanu, Vladimir (2004), „Understanding National Stalinism: Legacies of Ceauşescu’s Socialism” in Carey, Henry F. (ed.), Romania since 1989. Politics, Economics, and Society, Lanham, MD.: Lexington Books, 27-48.

Vianu, Tudor (1982), Studii de filosofia culturii, Bucureşti: Editura Eminescu.

Weber, Max (2005), The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, translated by Talcott Parsons, London and New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis.

Zub, Alexandru (2002), Oglinzi retrovizoare. Istorie, memorie şi morală în România, Iaşi: Polirom.

Surveys:

Anti-Americanism in the Balkans Survey, 2003.

Transatlantic Trends, 2008.

Downloads

Published

2015-03-30

How to Cite

GHERASIM, G. C. . (2015). THE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE OF ROMANIAN ANTI-AMERICANISM: AMBIVALENCE AND/OR “SLOUGH OF RESENTFUL DESPOND”. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Studia Europaea, 60(1), 171–186. Retrieved from https://studia.reviste.ubbcluj.ro/index.php/subbeuropaea/article/view/5067

Issue

Section

Articles

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.