Habersack, Sabine - Puşcaş, Vasile - Ciubotă, Viorel (szerk.): Democraţia in Europa centrală şi de Sud-Est - Aspiraţie şi realitate (Secolele XIX-XX) (Satu Mare, 2001)

Ion Bulei: Democraţia la români. Un proces neterminat

Ion Bulei

Democracy for the Romanians. Unfinished Process

First question that we have to ask is if Romanians ever had a democratical regime. We could give a positive answer, Romanians knew democracy under all different kinds of manifestations: pluri-partytism, electoral system, inclusively based on universal suffrage; an active parlamentary life (until communism, which transformed everything into a farce), a judicial set up similar to the one from other European countries, a free and influential press... And yet, in Romania, just like in other countries, democracy wasn't actually reality. It was a started, continued and an obvious process for a while, but un unfinished process. First of all, because of the external reasons. These reasons are able to encourage, to inhibit or to be a real impediment. Democracy goes after the same pattern of modernization, in fact is its political corollary. The fillings or failures of a democratic regime are a direct consequence of modernization. The most perceptible results were in Bucovina, Transylvania and Banat, provinces belonging, until 1918, to Austrian or Austrian-Hungarian ruling.

The political regime of liberal rights can be structured only in the given geo-political context, respectively depending on geography and on historical circumstances. The modern political democracy is based on parlamentary representation and on multi-partytism.

After communism, the democratic regime is resuming again in Romania (often, the Romanians history seems to be a history of the beginnings). Let us just hope that circumstances and ourselves will be able to bring democracy to a normal working.

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