“Imperial legacy and Balkan neurosis”. Federalist projects, Romanian reactions
“Imperial legacy and Balkan neurosis”. Federalist projects, Romanian reactions

Summary/Abstract: I am going to speak about federative projects and plans, political initiatives and memoranda, reactions they caused in the Romanian intellectual and political environment, the way they were (or rather were not) included in the historical discourse, and will not tackle the “Central European set of mind” which is so difficult to identify. It has to be mentioned that, for the Romanian culture, the acquisition of the Central European conscience, the conscience of the middle and its potential conceptualization are doomed to annihilation by the obsessive claim of “insularity”. The imperial legacy is only mentioned in negative contexts, various political and cultural personalities are incriminated for their cosmopolitanism, and for the “pro-Hapsburg”, “pro-German” activity which is equal to being “antinational”. Central Europe becomes a spectre, a bogey man shown every now and then to Romanians in order to reinforce the feeling of being “under siege”, the fear that the country could be dismembered by the “enemies from abroad and enemies within”.

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