national identity representations of foreign affairs in Moldova

339 Pages·2015·3.05 MB·English

by  Adina Huma

Reproducing ‘geopolitics’ – national identity
representations of foreign affairs in Moldova

by Roxana Adina Humă

A thesis submitted to Plymouth University
in partial fulfilment for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

School of Government
July 2015

This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who
consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its
author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived
from it may be published without the author's prior consent.

Roxana Adina Humă

Reproducing ‘geopolitics’ – national identity representations of
foreign affairs in Moldova
Acknowledgements
This thesis could not have been completed without the support, patience and time of a
whole range of people in the UK, in Romania and, especially in Moldova. Firstly, I
would like to express my gratitude to my supervisory team, Professor Karl Cordell and
Dr Shabnam Holliday, for their patience, guidance and for always being there to
encourage me whenever I needed it. I would also like to thank the rest of the
department and my PhD colleagues, for their support. Lastly, special thanks to Dr Brieg
Powel for inspiring me to start this project.
Sunt recunoscătoare tuturor celor din Moldova si Romania care au găsit o oră pentru a
sta de vorbă cu mine. Am mai multe dovezi de bunătatea moldovenilor decât pentru
orice alt argument menționat in teză. Mulțumiri multe pentru Ruslan și tanti Raia
fiindcă au avut grija de mine in Moldova și m-au ajutat pe tot parcursul studiului. De
asemenea pentru Ina și Valerica pentru că m-au suportat la Chișinău.
This project would have never been started without Mădălina and Diana holding my
hand through the application process and it would have not been completed without
Matt’s support and rather annoying trust in my abilities.
Și cel mai important, mulțumesc mama, tata si buna pentru răbdare. Si pentru ca
datorita vouă am ajuns aici.

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AUTHOR’S DECLARATION
At no time during the registration for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy has the
author been registered for any other University award without prior agreement of the
Graduate Committee. Work submitted for this research degree at the Plymouth
University has not formed part of any other degree either at Plymouth University or at
another establishment. The study was financed with the aid of a studentship from the
Economic and Social Research Council.
Relevant scientific seminars and conferences were regularly attended at which work
was often presented; several papers were prepared for publication.

Publications:
‘The Mioritic Nation – An alternative approach to Moldovan national identity’ (accepted,
Nationalities Papers)
‘A Moldovan ‘sheep’? - Framing Moldovan passivity’, Nations and Nationalism 21 (3), 2015,
503–523, doi: 10.1111/nana.12125
‘Contested Borders: Representing boundaries within Moldovan museums’ in “Placing” Europe
in the Museum - People(s), places, identities (2013) edited by Christopher Whitehead et al.,
Milan: Politecnico di Milano, pp. 45 – 60

Presentation and Conferences Attended:
‘Europeanised “brotherhood”: Romanian portrayals of the 2009 Moldovan “Twitter
Revolution”’, ASN World Convention, Columbia University, 24-26 April 2014.
‘The West through a Moldovan lens – Reflections on a liminal identity’, Second Euroacademia
International Conference ‘Re-Inventing Eastern Europe’, Prague, 15-16 November 2013.
‘Between liminality and hybridity - Moldovan identity and the borders of Europe’, 14th Annual
UACES Student Forum Research Conference, ‘Evolving Europe: Voices of the Future’,
Loughborough University, July 8-9, 2013.
‘A Moldovan ‘sheep’? - Deconstructing Moldova’s lack of agency’, Aberystwyth-Lancaster
Postgraduate Conference 2013, Manchester University, 5-7 June 2013.
‘No room for the middle ground? The problems facing Moldovan civic identity’, ASN World
Convention, Columbia University, 18-20 April 2013; developed and also presented at BASEES
2014 Annual Conference, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, 5-7 April 2014 and ASN Convention,
Central European University, 12-14 June 2014.
‘How a ‘revolution’ almost made us forget about the nation – Romanian representations of
Moldova during the 2009 ‘Twitter Revolution’’, 23rd Annual ASEN Conference, LSE, 9-11 April
2013.
‘Contested borders - representing boundaries within Moldovan museums’, MeLA Conference,
Newcastle University, 2-3 September 2012.
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Word Count of the main body of the thesis: 72,275

Date 22.07.2015

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Abstract
Breaking away from the positivist trend dominating the literature on Moldova’s foreign
relations, this thesis analyses the means through which national identity discourses
impact on Moldovan societal representation of foreign policy. It contends that national
identity perpetuates a Cold War inspired view of foreign affairs. This construction is
defined by two main elements, the representation of the civilizational and geopolitical
cleavage between East and West and the lack of agency awarded to the Moldovan self.
This is achieved through an in-depth study of the national identity debate in Moldova.
It focuses on both the two main national identity discourses in Moldova, Romanianism
and Moldovanism. For this analysis, I employ a post-structuralist approach,
conceptualising national identity as a discourse that helps us make sense of the world.
Through this function and its persistence across Moldovan articulations, national
identity plays a key role in representations of foreign affairs in Moldova. More
specifically, the opposition between Romanianism and Moldovanism reproduces the
East-West geopolitical and civilizational cleavage, whilst the representation of
Moldovan inferiority, historical debt and the Great Power Complex reiterates
Moldova’s passivity and lack of agency. Through this Cold War representation of
international affairs, national identity offers both the resources and the limits within
which official Moldovan foreign policy articulations function. In this way, national
identity is crucial in understanding the mechanisms through which foreign policy is
legitimated and, especially, the validity and credibility of certain arguments and the
unlikelihood of others.

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Contents
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... 5
List of Figures and Tables .............................................................................................................. 9
Acronyms ..................................................................................................................................... 11
Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 13
I.1. Relevance ........................................................................................................................... 14
I.2. Historical context ............................................................................................................... 18
I.3. Chapter Outline ................................................................................................................. 26
A note on the text .................................................................................................................... 35
1. Theoretical and Methodological Underpinnings ..................................................................... 37
1.1. Discourse – defining the world ......................................................................................... 38
1.2. National Identity ............................................................................................................... 43
1.3. Identity and Foreign Policy ............................................................................................... 50
1.4. Agency and Structure in IR ............................................................................................... 55
1.5. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 61
2. Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 63
2.1. Data Collection ................................................................................................................. 64
2.1.1. Levels of Data ............................................................................................................ 67
2.1.2. Types of Data ............................................................................................................. 72
2.2. Method and Data Analysis ................................................................................................ 85
2.2.1. Toolbox ...................................................................................................................... 89
2.2.2. Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 93
3. Moldovan national identity – ‘between’ Moldovanism and Romanianism ............................ 99
3.1. Building on the existing literature .................................................................................. 103
3.2. Theoretical and Methodological considerations ............................................................ 106
3.3. Language ......................................................................................................................... 109
3.4. History ............................................................................................................................ 120
3.4.1. Historical Narratives ................................................................................................ 124
3.4.2. Key Events: 1812, 1918 and 1940 ............................................................................ 127
3.5. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 147
4. Articulating the East-West Geopolitical cleavage ................................................................. 153
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