România și monarhia interbelică (1927-1940)
Romania and the interwar monarchy (1927-1940)

Summary/Abstract: This research establishes a structural investigation into the trajectory of the monarchy in Romania (1927–1940), a period defined by the transition from liberal constitutional paradigms to a personalized form of government, culminating in a regime of monarchical authority. The investigation begins with an analysis of the institutional vacuum created by the death of King Ferdinand I, an event that catalysed an interregnum marked by the dissolution of authority and the absence of the symbolic charisma inherent to the royal prerogatives. Furthermore, the functional failure of the Regency Council is inherent to its collective nature, which remained deprived of the ontological legitimacy of a rightful monarch, thus becoming a mere variable in the tactical games of political actors. The paper also posits the Restoration of Carol II (June 1930) to be asystemic turning point, interpreting the return of Carol II as a deliberate undermining of the constitutional order, facilitated by the pragmatic capitulation of the political elite. It demonstrates how the Carlist reign instrumentalized patronage systems and induced a programmatic erosion of traditional party structures. An equally essential perspective is devoted to the dialectic between the Crown and radical right-wing movements, with the monarch internalizing the methods of tyranny under the aegis of safeguarding the state order (a process culminating in the establishment of the royal dictatorship in February 1938). The final section examines the regime’s implosion against the backdrop of the geopolitical collapse of the summer of 1940. Territorial losses are analysed for their role in irreversible delegitimization, facilitating the transfer of authority to General Ion Antonescu. The conclusions highlight the precariousness of democratic institutions in the face of the violent dynamics of European power relations, with the monarchy being reduced, after September 6,1940, to a ceremonial figurehead, devoid of decision-making power within the new power structure.

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