ASPECTS OF THE CONFESSIONAL IDENTITY ON THE TWO BANKS OF THE DNIESTER AND ITS ROLE IN THE PROCESS OF REGULATING THE TRANSNISTRIAN FILE Cover Image

ASPECTE ALE IDENTITĂȚII CONFESIONALE PE CELE DOUĂ MALURI ALE NISTRULUI ȘI ROLUL ACESTEIA ÎN PROCESUL DE REGLEMENTARE A DOSARULUI TRANSNISTREAN
ASPECTS OF THE CONFESSIONAL IDENTITY ON THE TWO BANKS OF THE DNIESTER AND ITS ROLE IN THE PROCESS OF REGULATING THE TRANSNISTRIAN FILE

Author(s): Marius Spechea
Subject(s): History of Church(es), Civil Society, Governance, Security and defense, Culture and social structure , Eastern Orthodoxy, Other Christian Denominations, Inter-Ethnic Relations, Politics of History/Memory, Politics and Identity, Identity of Collectives, Peace and Conflict Studies
Published by: Editura Universitatii LUCIAN BLAGA din Sibiu
Keywords: Religious identity; Conflict resolution; Confidence-building; Transnistria; Confessional realty;

Summary/Abstract: Religious identity represents one of the most sensitive topics, especially in the context of a conflict, so religious identity and confessional aspects can be bridges for resolution and de-escalation, or on the contrary, they can block and stiffen the regulatory process. The confessional reality on the two banks of the Dniester has so far not been analyzed from the perspective of the regulatory process, but more from the historical perspective of the evolution of religious life in the Transnistrian region. The Soviet period made it practically impossible to discuss religious life in the region, it was almost annihilated. But even in the context of special and internationally unregulated political realities after 1991 and which still bear strong traces of the Soviet period, religious and confessional life developed and diversified. In this situation, a series of questions arise regarding the specifics of religious and confessional life as well as confessional freedoms in the region, as well as the role they may or may not have in the effort to regulate the Transnistrian file.In general, the confidence-building measures considered and are undertaken by international actors, but also by the authorities on the two banks of the Dniester, where they have focused in recent years especially on elements specific to human security and less on elements of national security and state consolidation, as many expected or counted on in the regulatory process, a fact that somewhat displeased the political decision-makers. In the context of the war in Ukraine, the negotiation format has stalled, and the process of settling the Transnistrian file has entered a very dangerous minefield. That is why it is important to analyze the opportunity or, on the contrary, the risk, that religious identity can generate the continuation of measures to strengthen trust and maintain dialogue, especially when political channels of communication close.

  • Issue Year: VI/2022
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 116-126
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: Romanian