<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This discussion looks back at socialist Romania and the collapse of the Ceauşescu regime. It suggests that Romania, like all states, socialist, social-democratic and neoliberal are confronted by the same world systemic capitalism and that all states use a mixture of policies involving both capitalist and socialist, democratic and authoritarian features in the attempt to avoid the hazards and to gain the advantages of a global system dominated by capitalist accumulation. Using a diversity of assets and hampered by limitations inherited historically, some will fail and some will succeed as state projects. Cold War era analysis will not be useful as a way to evaluate or predict winners or losers. Likewise, the failure of Communist Romania as a state system could not have been predicted either by its authoritarian or by its socialist policy features.</p></abstract>

This discussion looks back at socialist Romania and the collapse of the Ceauşescu regime. It suggests that Romania, like all states, socialist, social-democratic and neoliberal are confronted by the same world systemic capitalism and that all states use a mixture of policies involving both capitalist and socialist, democratic and authoritarian features in the attempt to avoid the hazards and to gain the advantages of a global system dominated by capitalist accumulation. Using a diversity of assets and hampered by limitations inherited historically, some will fail and some will succeed as state projects. Cold War era analysis will not be useful as a way to evaluate or predict winners or losers. Likewise, the failure of Communist Romania as a state system could not have been predicted either by its authoritarian or by its socialist policy features.

Socialist Romania and the Futility of Cold War Analysis

Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai Sociologia

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Socialist Romania and the Futility of Cold War Analysis"}

This discussion looks back at socialist Romania and the collapse of the Ceauşescu regime. It suggests that Romania, like all states, socialist,...

Socialist Romania and the Futility of Cold War Analysis

Published Online: Feb 14, 2019

Page range: 71 - 91

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/subbs-2018-0012

Keywords
communism, socialism, capitalism, neoliberalism, world-system, Cold War, democracy and authoritarianism, UMass Romanian Research Group

© 2018 Steven G. Randall, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Socialist Romania and the Futility of Cold War Analysis

Published Online: Feb 14, 2019

Page range: 71 - 91

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/subbs-2018-0012

Keywordscommunism, socialism, capitalism, neoliberalism, world-system, Cold War, democracy and authoritarianism, UMass Romanian Research Group

© 2018 Steven G. Randall, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
communism, socialism, capitalism, neoliberalism, world-system, Cold War, democracy and authoritarianism, UMass Romanian Research Group