ROMANIAN POLITICAL SYSTEM

Course title :

ROMANIAN POLITICAL SYSTEM

Brief description of the course :

This course aims to describe, analyze and explain crucial and ephemeral political events, trends, institutions, personalities, mentalities and forces that acted in Romania, after the breakdown of totalitarian communist regime. A great emphasis is put on those analytical, theoretical and methodological approaches, which are relevant for understanding politics and policies, political actors and the consequences of their acts, political institutions, the consolidation of democracy, but also wrong decisions, consensus and conflict. This course is also about using relevant tools in order to understand real political life, politicians motivations, acts, and to measure the consequences of political decisions. A question that will be constantly raised during the course and seminar is about rational procedures, analytical tools and political expertise used by Romanian politicians, parties in their main political decisions, in designing policies, institutions and electoral campaigns. One of the main purposes of this academic enterprise is to encourage students attempts in their analytical and explanatory approaches to explain Romanian post-communist political life.

Requirements and evaluation :

Students are expected to read recommended books or any other texts that would be helpful in their research on Romanian political system. Each student will prepare by the end of the semester a research on a particular political organization, event, or aspect of the Romanian political system. In order to facilitate the writing of political science research on Romanian politics, a seminar on methodology of research, analysis and writing will be held.

At the Romanian political system course it is possible to obtain credits only by cumulating the following components:

Activity in seminar: at least two answers in one semester (plus the class presentation, in the case they failed to write the research draft according with requirements);

A political analysis research on the Romanian political system. At a date announced before, students are supposed to present a research draft, which will be discussed in the research seminar. Only those students that respected the standards of research discussed in the research seminar will continue to write their research paper; the other students have the obligation to select a topic for the class presentation;

A test based on the course and a bibliography announced in advance (the test will be announced in time); other unannounced tests, based on the course bibliography, could be given during the semester,

The final grade = 1/3 (research analysis [1/6 research draft + 1/6 final paper or class presentation]) + 1/3 test + 1/3 seminar activity and attendance [1/6 attendance + 1/6 seminar activity]. There is no exam in the end. Students who fail to obtain credits do not qualify for the attempt to obtain better grades in summer or in other sessions. Absence at the test and the failure to deliver the papers at the deadlines announced before means no credits. No credits means that is mandatory to attend again the whole course & seminar. If students fail to write research drafts in accordance with the standards required, they will be submitted to a second test instead the final research paper.

Students with more than 6 absences during the semester will not receive in the end credits, and they have to repeat the course in the next year. Attendance is mandatory at the following seminars: the research seminar (absentees do not have the right to present research drafts), at the deadline term for research drafts (each student will submit the research draft personally to the professor, not through intermediaries or by e-mail) and research papers, at the seminar evaluation of the research drafts, at the test, at the seminar presentation.

Students should be aware of our Facultys policy of academic integrity: cheating, falsification, forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism, complicity and computer misuse will result in the invalidation of both grade and credits

Courses outline:

Week: February 16 20, 2009

Topic: Introduction. Concepts, theories, methods, and hypotheses involved in the study of the Romanian political system.

Week: February 23 27, 2009

Topic: Research seminar.

Readings: The Romanian Constitution 1991

Week: March 2 7, 2009

Topic : The legal-constitutional framework of the Romanian post-communist political system. The nature of Romanian Constitution. Revisiting the Constitution an exercise of democracy-building.

Readings : The Romanian Constitution 2003

Week : March 9 13, 2009

Topic : the nature of 1989 Revolutions in the Soviet communist totalitarian countries, in particular in Romania. December 1989 and the nature of regime change; regime change and governmental replacement.

Readings : Deadline for the research draft

Week : March 16 20, 2009

Topic :Seminar discussion on the research drafts

Week : March 23 27,

Topic : The legacy of communist totalitarian regime: the process of communism, the law for de-conspiring Securitatea as political police, lustration initiatives;

Readings : fragments and students presentations from Raportul Comisiei Prezidentiale pentru Analiza Dictaturii Comuniste din Romania (Raport final- Comisia Prezidentiala pentru Analiza Dictaturii Comuniste din Romania, Editori: Vladimir Tismaneanu, Dorin Dobrincu, Cristian Vasile (Bucuresti: Humanitas, 2007);

Week : March 30 April 3,

Topic :Political parties and interest groups in post-communist Romania. The main political actors.

Readings : the first three chapters from Dan Pavel, Iulia Huiu, Nu putem reusi decit impreuna. O istorie analitica a Conventiei Democratice, 1989-2000 (Iasi: Polirom, 2003);

Week : April 6- 10,

Topic : The electoral system, the party system ; elections in Romania (1990; 1992; 1996; 2000; 2004; 2008) and the distinction between normal and constitutional politics

Readings :the last three chapters from Dan Pavel, Iulia Huiu, Nu putem reusi decit impreuna. O istorie analitica a Conventiei Democratice, 1989-2000 (Iasi: Polirom, 2003);

Week : April 13 17,

Topic : Democratic institutions in post-communist Romania. Institutional analysis of Parliament, Cabinet, Presidency, judicial power, central and local administration, governmental agencies and departments, ministries, political parties.

Readings : Arend Lijphart, Modele ale democratiei. Forme de guvernare si functionare in treizeci si sase de tari, traducere de C. Constantinescu, prefata de Lucian Dirdala (Iasi: Polirom, 2000);.

Week : April 20 24,

Topic : Analysis and debates on the nature of the Romanian political system. Comparison with other democracies ; change and reform within the political systems

Readings : Arend Lijphart, Modele ale democratiei. Forme de guvernare si functionare in treizeci si sase de tari, traducere de C. Constantinescu, prefata de Lucian Dirdala (Iasi: Polirom, 2000);.

Week : April 27 May 1,

Topic : The 2004 elections and the third turnover. Huntingtons two turnover test and democratic consolidation in Romania: democracy and democratization. The 2008 elections and the changes within the political system and the party system.

Readings : Juan J. Linz & Alfred Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation. Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe (Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1996); Samuel Huntington, The Third Wave. Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (London and : The University of Oklahoma Press, 1993).

Week : May 4 8,

Topic : The impact of NATO integration and EU integration on the Romanian political system. The status of minorities in post-communist Romania (from religious and ethnic minorities to sexual minorities);

Readings : Deadline for the research papers ;

Week : May 11 15,

Topic : Test based on seminar bibliography and the course ;

Week : May 18 22, 2009

Topic: Evaluations of the research papers and the test. Conclusions for the course on Romanian politica system.

Bibliography

Political science journals, and magazines: Sfera Politicii, 22, East European Politics and Societies, Journal of Democracy, East European Constitutional Review, Revista romana de stiinte politice (Romanian Journal of Political Science), Romanian Political Science Review. Studia Politica, The Romanian Journal of Society and Politics, Polis, Revista de cercetari sociale// daily newpapers collections from Romania. Monitorul Oficial (vezi colectia de Horariri ale Guvernului Romaniei si alte acte normative . Internet;

Gabriel Andreescu, Ruleta. Romani si maghiari, 1990-2000. Jurnal thematic (Iasi: Polirom, 2001);

Gabriel Andreescu, Extremismul de dreapta in Romania (Cluj: Centrul de Resurse pentru Diversitate Etnoculturala, 2003) (there is also an English version);

Asociatia Pro Democratia, Cartea albastra de democratiei. Un ghid al institutiilor publice centrale din Romania (Bucuresti: APD, 2003);

Mihnea Berindei, Ariadna Combes, Anne Planche, Romania, cartea alba. 13-15 iunie 1990, traducere de Monica Parvu (Bucuresti: Humanitas, 1991);

Emil Constantinescu, Timpul darimarii, timpul zidirii, 4 volume (Bucuresti: Universalia, 2002);

Constitutia Romaniei from 2003 and from 1991 (there are several editions available in bookstores);

Corneliu Coposu in fata istoriei, editia a II-a completata (Bucuresti: Editura Metropol, 1997);

Robert A. Dahl, Modern Political Analysis (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1970);

Robert Dahl, Polyarchy. Participation and Opposition (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1971);

Robin M. Dawes, Rational Choice in an Uncertain World (Fort Worth, Philadelphia: Hartcourt Brace College Publishers, 1988);

Ion Diaconescu, Dupa revolutie (Bucuresti: Nemira, 2003) (volumul al treilea al trilogiei memorialistice);

Larry Diamond, Marc F. Plattner, Yun-han Chu, and Hung-mao Tien (eds. Consolidating the Third Wave Democracies. Themes and Perspectives (Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1997);

Larry Diamond and Marc F. Plattner (eds. Democracy after Communism (Baltimore and London: the John Hopkins University Press);

Mattei Dogan, Sociologie politica. Opere alese, traducere de Laura si Nicolae Lotreanu (loc neprecizat: Editura Alternative, 1999);

Maurice Duverger, Les partis politiques (Paris: Armand Colin, 1951);

Jon Elster, Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences (Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989);

Fata in fata cu Petre Roman. 9 convorbiri cu Vartan Arachelian (Bucuresti: Editura Cartea Romaneasca, 1996);.

Robert E. Goodin, Hans-Peter Klingemann, Manual de stiinta politica, traducere colectiva (Iasi: Polirom, 2005);

Rod Hague, Martin Harrop and Shaun Breslin, Political Science. A Comparative Introduction (New York: St. Martins Press, 1992);

Rod Hague & Martin Harrop, Comparative Government and Politics. An Introduction (New York, London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007) ), 7th edition revised and updated;

Samuel P. Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1968), vezi si traducerea Samuel P. Huntington, Ordinea politica a societatilor in schimbare, traducere de Horatiu Stamatin (Iasi: Polirom, 1999);

Samuel Huntington, The Third Wave. Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (London and : The University of Oklahoma Press, 1993).

Ion Iliescu, Revolutie si reforma (Bucuresti: Editura Enciclopedica, 1994); Momente de istorie. Documente, interviuri, comentarii, volumele 1 si III, Decembrie 1989 - iunie 1990 (Bucuresti: Editura Enciclopedica, 1995) si Septembrie 1991 - octombrie 1992 (Bucuresti: Editura Enciclopedica, 1996);

Ion Iliescu in dialog cu Vladimir Tismaneanu, Marele soc din finalul unui secol scurt (Bucuresti: Editura enciclopedica, 2004) (there is also an English version of this book on the market);

Gary King, Robert O. Keohane, Sidney Verba, Designing Social Inquiry. Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1994)// see also the Romanian version: King, Keohane, Verba, Fundamentele cercetarii sociale, traducere de Irina Culic si Bogdan Micu, nota introductiva de Gabriel Badescu (Iasi: Polirom, 2000);

Joseph LaPalombara, Myron Weiner (eds.), Political Parties and Political Development (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1966), especially LaPalombara and Weiner, 'The Origin and Development of Political Parties,' Sartori ('The European Party System: the Case of Polarized Pluralism') and Otto Kirchheimer ('The Transformation of the Western European Party Systems');.

Arend Lijphart, Democracies. Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty-One Countries (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1984);

Arend Lijphart, Modele ale democratiei. Forme de guvernare si functionare in treizeci si sase de tari, traducere de C. Constantinescu, prefata de Lucian Dirdala  (Iasi: Polirom, 2000);.

Juan J. Linz & Alfred Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation. Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe (Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press, 1996);

Multimedia Political Communication, 2001. Anul de miere al puterii (Bucuresti: RH Printings & Publishing, 2003);

Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Sorin Ionita (coordonatori), Politici publici. Teorie si practica (Iasi: Polirom, 2002);

Marius Oprea, Banalitatea raului. O istorie a Securitatii in documente, 1949-1989, studiu introductiv de Dennis Deletant (Iasi: Polirom, 2002);

Dan Pavel, Leviathanul bizantin. Analize, atitudini si studii politice (Iasi: Polirom, 1999);

Dan Pavel, PDSR in opozitie. Studiu asupra functionarii puterii in perioada postcomunista, Sfera Politicii, An VIII, Nr. 81 si Nr. 82, 2000;

Dan Pavel, Iulia Huiu, Nu putem reusi decit impreuna. O istorie analitica a Conventiei Democratice, 1989-2000 (Iasi: Polirom, 2003);

Andrei Plesu si Petre Roman, in dialog cu Elena Stefoi, Transformari, inertii, dezordini. 22 de luni de dupa 22 decembrie 1989 (Iasi: Polirom, 2002);

Cristian Preda, Romania postcomunista si Romania interbelica (Bucuresti: Meridiane, Institutul de Cercetari Politice, 2002);

Cristian Preda, Partide si alegeri in Romania postconista: 1989 2004 (Bucuresti: Nemira, 2005);

Raportul Comisiei Prezidentiale pentru Analiza Dictaturii Comuniste din Romania (Raport final- Comisia Prezidentiala pentru Analiza Dictaturii Comuniste din Romania, Editori: Vladimir Tismaneanu, Dorin Dobrincu, Cristian Vasile (Bucuresti: Humanitas, 2007);

Giovanni Sartori, Parties and Party Systems. A Framework for Analysis (London: Cambridge University Press, 1976);

Giovanni Sartori, Homo videns. Imbecilizarea prin televiziune si postgindirea, traducere de Mihai Elin (Bucuresti: Humanitas, 2005);

Howard A. Scarrow, Comparative Political Analysis. An Introduction (New York, Evanston: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1969);

Valeriu Stoica, Puterea, un rau necesar? (Bucuresti: Editura Allfa, 2002);

Adrian Severin, Lacrimile diminetii (Bucuresti: Scripta, 1994);

Adrian Severin in dialog cu Gabriel Andreescu, Locurile unde se construieste Europa (Iasi: Polirom, 2000);

W. Phillips Shively, The Craft of Political Research (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1990);

Domnita Stefanescu, Cinci ani din istoria Romaniei. O cronologie a evenimentelor, decembrie 1989-decembrie 1994 (Bucuresti: Editura Masina de Scris, 1995) si Doi ani din istoria Romaniei. O cronologie a evenimentelor, ianuarie 1995 - ianuarie 1997 (Bucuresti: Editura Masina de Scris, 1998);

Vladimir Tismaneanu, Balul mascat (Iasi: Polirom, 1996);

Vladimir Tismaneanu, Reinventarea politicului. Europa de Est de la Stalin la Havel, traducere de Alexandru Vlad, studiu introductiv de Dan Pavel (Iasi: Polirom, 1997);

Vladimir Tismaneanu (ed.), The Revolutions of 1989 (London and New York: Routledge, 1999); vezi si traducerea in romaneste Revolutiile din 1989. Intre trecut si viitor, traducere de Cristina si Dragos Petrescu (Iasi: Polirom, 1999);

Vladimir Tismaneanu in dialog cu Mircea Mihaies, Incet spre Europa (Iasi: Polirom, 2000);

George Voicu, Pluripartidismul. O teorie a democratiei (Bucuresti: All, 1998)

Robert K. Yin, Case Study Research. Design and Methods (Newbury Park: Sage Publications, 1989);