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 Romanian National Identity 

My own definition of national identity

National identity is something that is hard to precisely define. My personal definition is anything about a specific nation that is shared by a large portion of the population. My personal idea of national identity is something that comes from inside the nation, so that it is reflective of the actual residents of that nation, rather than just an ideal that has been popularized by the government. National identity is not and should not just be based on the ethnic background of a nation, rather it should be what makes the nation different from others. 

3/4 primary aspects of Romania's national identity

In order to understand modern Romanian national identity, it is important to understand where it all came from. According to the mythology, the Romanian people are a result of the Roman Empire conquering and colonizing the Dacian Kingdom. Even though later ethnicities continued to pass through the region in south eastern europe, they didn't have much of an effect on the population, leaving the largest group as the Daco-Roman. This founding myth is largely important in current national identity. It is important to note that modern day Romania was unified in 1848, by bringing together the three regions of Transylvania, Bessarbia and Bukovina.

After WW1 there was a focus to push Romania in a more modern, westernized direction. This was seen by reducing the country's proactive foreign policy and instead focusing on domestic policy and issues. The rest of Europe began to see its relationship with Romania turn into more of a partnership, following the nation's integration into NATO and the EU. Romania today is much closer to western Europe in a cultural sense than they were 100 years ago. 

An interesting tradition is that seven months after a baby is born, they place a pencil, an egg and a book in front of them. If the baby picks the pencil, it is believed they will become an intellectual, if they pick the egg then they will be an artist and if they pick the egg they will be very materially successful. 

The Romanian Orthodox Church is followed by about 85% of the population, making religion a central part of Romanian culture and identity. The church plays a big role in Romania, they run many social institutions that do things like fighting poverty, preventing domestic violence as well as many other things like treating drug abuse and the spread of HIV/AIDS. 

Types of “othering” that help maintain Romania's sense of national identity. 

The Roma people have been greatly oppressed everywhere, but especially in Romania. They were kept as slaves in monasteries and boyars until 1856. There was government policy passed to exterminate them in the early 1940s. Both of these facts are often ignored in the modern day by Romanian educators and politicians, continuing the cycle of oppression as well as erasure. Hate of the Roma people is often justified by eugenics, which during wartime described them as “human parasites”. In lieu of the COVID pandemic, these ideas were repurposed to continue to oppress these people. The areas that the Roma lived in were labeled as “zones of contagion”. 

Some “significant others” to romania 

An important significant other to Romania is Hungary. The neighboring nations have had conflict dating back to as far as the middle ages. They both left communism in 1989, but in very different ways. Hungary had a more diplomatic process, while Romania’s communist dictator was executed. Immediately after gaining independence, the two states found it difficult to remain peaceful. Each was very wary of the other. After years of this, a treaty was eventually reached that guaranteed peace between the nations and ensured minority rights. This is a good example of how nations tend to have rocky relationships with their geographical neighbors. 

Another significant other to Romania would be Ukraine. The two nations navigated leaving communism around the same time. Ukraine has a fairly large ethnic Romanian population of about 200,000-500,000. The protection of the rights of ethnic Romanians living in Ukraine is important to Romania, and it seems that Ukraine has been honoring that. Most Romanians tend to support Ukraine in their war with Russia, and think that Russia should pull out of Ukraine and end the war. There is hope that if Russia pulls out, all of southeastern Europe will benefit. There is however, a little bit of a territory dispute, over the northern region of Bukovina. This territory is now a part of Ukraine's Chernivtsi Oblast. How the dispute is handled could affect the future of the relationship between the two nations. 

Works Cited

Aligica, P. D. (2024, January 9). Romania and Ukraine navigate their relations pragmatically. GIS Reports. Retrieved February 1, 2024, from https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/romana-ukraine-relations/

Anti-Roma Racism in Romania – EuropeNow. (2021, April 1). EuropeNow. Retrieved February 1, 2024, from https://www.europenowjournal.org/2021/04/01/anti-roma-racism-in-romania/

Linden, R. H. (2000). Putting on Their Sunday Best: Romania, Hungary, and the Puzzle of Peace. International Studies Quarterly, 44(1), 121–145. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3013972

Joja, I. (2019). Romania’s strategic culture 1990–2014 : Continuity and change in a post-communist country’s evolution of national interests and security policies. Ibidem Press.

World, T. P. (2010). Romania society & culture complete report : An all-inclusive profile combining all of our society and culture reports. World Trade Press.

(Anti-Roma Racism in Romania – EuropeNow, 2021)

Drace-Francis, A. (2013). The traditions of invention : Romanian ethnic and social stereotypes in historical context. BRILL.