Sources of Contemporary Romanian Conservatism
Sources of Contemporary Romanian Conservatism

Summary/Abstract: In contemporary Romania, no individual, political party or association is willing to assume the label “conservative”. Whenever I try to classify a political discourse or orientation, I keep facing the same question: conservative to what? A straight answer eludes me. The conservative label encompasses both open aspects of conservatism – legitimating the preservation of the convenient status quo from the past – as well as some aspects rooted in the fear of change – a crypto-conservative fear, the displays of conservatism versus standards of advanced liberal democracies, and subsequently, ideologies that, in spite of proposing emancipating projects, harbor exclusion or social marginalization of certain categories of people. The fear of left-wing extremism (Communism) and right-wing extremism (nationalism or secessionism) has produced a cocktail of covert conservatisms in Romanian politics and society. Reparative justice and resentment; poverty (for left-wing conservatism), and elitism (for right-wing conservatism) account for many grounds of the Romanian conservatism.

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