Product Description

"Modern Romania makes a significant contribution to the political history of Romania and Central Europe, as well as to the literature on the dynamics of political and social change in the region. The book has special merit in identifying a number of factors that threaten the stability of democracy in Romania—the most insidious of these being endemic corruption which affects all aspects of society. Gallagher sounds a timely warning note about Romania's future."
—Dennis Deletant, author of Ceausescu and the Securitate: Coercion and Dissent in Romania

Customer Reviews (3)

review
This is not only funny it is idiotic. Romania one of the next trouble parts? Laughable! This is written by a person that has no idea of the actual life there but only what they may have heard. Armchair nonsense.

Intensely informative!!
This book offers readers a look into a political system fueled by greed, corrupt from years of a communist mentality, and one being enabled to continue in the same path by NATO and the E.U. because of their own political agendas and goals.

This book argues that the average Romanian citizen is neglected and abused by the ruling elite, and little has been done since the fall of communism in 1989, by leading democratic nations to ensure a smooth transition from years under a totalitarian regime into this new found freedom we know as democracy.

Highly recommended reading for those with an interest in Romanian history or international politics.

The Troublesome Situation in Romania
Romania has long been a country that exists as an independent country but which has tended to be subservient to if not actually ruled by outsiders. At different times these rulers have Turks, Germans, Russians and others. The secret to survival of the Romanian culture has been an ability of influential Romanians to outwit powerful outsiders while attempting to accept their 'alien ways.'

The result is a country with an entrenched dominant party or oligarchy have created a partly democratic country with limited, tolerated opposition and a week independent sector but little real democratic culture.

With the fall of Ceausescu in 1989 democracy resulted, but essentially the same power structure remained through the Social Democratic Party.

This book presents a view of a Romania at a crossroads where the traditional powers that be are being confronted with an outside view as Romania has joined NATO and the EU, and local democratic forces are growing tired of the blatant corruption.

Romania could well be one of the world's next trouble spots. ... Read more

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Focusing on the developments which led to the imposition of a Communist-dominated government in Romania (Fall 1944-March 1945), and based on comprehensive archival information, Romania's Communist Takeover is the first analysis made from the Romanian perspective.While there exists a great deal of research on diplomatic activities involving Romania between 1944 and 1947, the unfolding of internal events, as perceived and reacted to by political parties and the Romanian public, has never before been closely investigated. Romania's Communist Takeoverrr includes a documentary section of original Romanian archival sources. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Title should have been "Education in Greater Romania"
After World War I, Romania acquired major portions of territory that had until then been part of other countries (Transylvania, Bessarabia, and Bucovina). Each of these territories had their own non-Romanian elite who resented the fact that they were suddenly subservient to the Romanians, who had previously been the underdogs even though they were the majority of the citizens.

Now Romania wanted to reverse the centuries old practices and somehow eject the old non-Romanian elite out of their cushy positions and replace them with Romanians. But since, in many cases, Romanians represented the rural class who lived primarily in villages they were often the uneducated masses. Most of the schools, however, were in the cities and Romanian "peasants" weren't welcome (sometimes extending to violent denial).

Romania felt that the only way to reverse the trend was to educate the masses of often illiterate Romanians. But at every turn, they met with resistance from the "old guard" ... teachers who refused to teach classes in the Romanian language. And so, Romania forced the issue, insisting that non-Romanian teachers either pledge their allegiance to the Romanianstate or face being fired.

But even when Romanian students showed up at the schools, they were faced with schools overcrowded with existing non-Romanian students. The Bucharest politicians forced the issue ... but not without a great deal of strife between the former non-Romanian and the current Romanian students.

Universities were especially hard hit because they were seen as the pathway to better jobs for Romanians. But universities were only found in the larger cities ... and were already overcrowded with urban non-Romanians, including a large number of Jews. This constant conflict might have been one of the reasons, according to the book, that fascist nationalism recruited such great numbers of Romanian students, especially at the University of Iasi where Codreanu, the future leader of the fascist Iron Guard, was a law student who sat through lectures by A.C. Cuza, a vehement anti-Semitic.

The book does an excellent job of covering the many pressure-cooker conflicts that existed in each of the gained territories. Each territory had a different and unique set of problems that the book covers very well. ... Read more

Product Description
Romania is out of step with its neighbors-including the Soviet Union and several other Communist East European countries, who seem to be moving away from the vestiges of Stalinism while Romania is moving toward it. As if to create a dynasty, Nicolae Ceausescu, the Romanian leader, has embarked on an extensive program of destroying entire historic towns and replacing them with monuments to his own era, has spurred an entire body of Romanian literature devoted to himself and his wife, seems to be grooming his son to take over the government, and has filled key posts with members of his own family. The Romanian economy has been driven by whims of its leader: agriculture has been neglected, industries are big money losers, and Romanians suffer shortages of electricity, heat and food. Romania is today the most oppressive regime in Europe, with a disastrous human rights record. To address the complicated situation in Romania, Freedom House invited nine prominent Romanians and Hungarians to discuss the issues, yielding fascinating observations concerning the nature of the Romanian political system and the possibility of its change. ... Read more

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Completely updated and revised for this new edition, our unique electronic book on two CD-ROMs has an amazing collection of the finest federal documents and resources about Romania, providing encyclopedic coverage of all aspects of the country. This disc set provides a truly fantastic reference source, with over one hundred thousand pages reproduced in Adobe Acrobat format! There is complete coverage of newsworthy material about Romania, including Romania and NATO, and the involvement of the Romanian military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This incredible and comprehensive series on the countries of the world contains material from the State Department, Department of Defense, White House, and cabinet agencies including Agriculture, Energy, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

There is complete information about geography, people, government, the economy, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues.

In addition to the nation-specific material, as a bonus we have included reports about every country on the globe, with 271 nations, dependent areas, and other entities identified by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA World Factbook is considered an invaluable "world encyclopedia" reference book.

This incredible two CD-ROM set is packed with over 121,000 pages reproduced using Adobe Acrobat PDF software - allowing direct viewing on Windows and Macintosh systems. The Acrobat cataloging technology adds enormous value and uncommon functionality to this impressive collection of government documents and material.

Our news and educational discs are privately compiled collections of official public domain U.S. government files and documents - they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly reference work, utilizing the benefits of the Adobe Acrobat format to uniformly present thousands of pages that can be rapidly reviewed, searched by finding specific words, or printed without untold hours of tedious research and downloading. Vast archives of important public domain government information that might otherwise remain inaccessible are available for instant review no matter where you are. This book-on-a-disc format makes a great reference work and educational tool. There is no other reference that is as fast, convenient, comprehensive, thoroughly researched, and portable - everything you need to know, from the federal sources you trust. ... Read more

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Gender equality permeates all areas of action in the EU enlargement process. Although in principle equality has been achieved in all candidate countries, women have not yet practically benefitted from this since institutional mechanisms for implementation are missing. ... Read more

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Geography, history, people, language, culture, traditions, economy, government, politics, constitution, places to visit, info for travelers. . . ... Read more

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Oxford Business Group, the British publishing companybest known for its Emerging Markets Series of investment guides oncountries throughout the Middle East, Central Asia, Eastern Europe,and North Africa, has now published Emerging Romania 2003.

This 200-page book was produced in association with the American Chamber of Commerce in Romania and is the most comprehensive and accurate English language review of the Romanian economy ever published internationally.

To produce this book, a team of six Oxford Business Group analysts spent six months researching and writing on all aspects of the Romanian economy. As with the rest of the series, the team conducted some 400 interviews with the leading political and economic figures in Romania as part of our extensive "in-country" research and analysis.

In addition to comprehensive overviews of Romania's political and macroeconomic situation, Emerging Romania 2003 reviews events and trends in all the major economic sectors, including: banking, capital markets (produced in association with Alpha Finance), insurance, IT and Telecoms, industry, real estate and construction, tourism, and agriculture.

A useful legal section and accounting section (produced in association with Deloite & Touche Romania) follows these sectoral overviews. The book is rounded out with The Guide, which provides a more light-hearted look at Romania’s regions and culture, including hotel listings and restaurant reviews.

Emerging Romania 2003 features interviews or articles with essential political and economic figures including: President Ion Iliescu, Minister of Finance, Mihai Nicolae Tanasescu, Governor of the Central Bank, Mugur Isarescu, Chairman of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, Stere Farmache, EBRD director for Romania, Hildegard Gacek, Head of EU delegation to Romania, Jonathan Scheele, National President of the Banker’s Association, Radu Getea, World Bank Director for Romania, Ziad Alahdad, Professor Daniel Daianu and Mr. Horia Roman Patapievici. ... Read more