Intellectuals and the seduction of Fascism in interwar Romania
Intellectuals and the seduction of Fascism in interwar Romania

Summary/Abstract: The central hypothesis of this article is that the attraction of autoritarianism on a populist basis has a traditional character in Romanian society (and) from the perspective of employing public intellectuals in the service of political power holders. In this sens, I intend to highlight, using the methodological tool of ideological analyisis, the influence that intellectuals had in terms of the development of a certain type of dominant political culture in the Romanian space. I believe that the central elements of the dominant Romanian political culture, to the social design, development and consolidation of which representative public intellectuals have contributed, over time, are the following: anti-individualism, anti-democratism and providentialism, all being grafted on a Manichean background whose hard core is ethnonationalism and which Romanian society inherits to this day. I argue that the elements of this dominant political culture have been enacted and socially transmitted through the discourses, attitudes and behaviors of public intellectuals form different generations, most of which are, most often intentionally and assumed, in the realm of politics. Thus, they legitimized the various directions in which political populism (including fascism) manifested itself during the last century, making, from this perspective, public intellectuals turn into propagandists of some parties and/or political leaders who announced projects of ”change” or ”reform” of Romania.

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