SHAPING POST-COMMUNIST ROMANIA'S INTELLIGENCE CULTURE: THE DE-COMMUNIZATION OF PERCEPTIONS
SHAPING POST-COMMUNIST ROMANIA'S INTELLIGENCE CULTURE: THE DE-COMMUNIZATION OF PERCEPTIONS

Summary/Abstract: The paper explores the impact of the Securitate archives’ declassification upon the intelligence culture in post-communist Romania. It starts from the premise that the declassification of the Securitate archives, seen as a social topic, has had a significant influence on perceptions of national security and on the public profile of the institutions with responsibilities in national security. Starting from this preliminary observation, our aim is to explore the cultural artefacts inspired by the Securitate theme, in other words the alternative cultural forms of expression which along with classic informative processes have the potential to function as a barometer of intelligence culture while also being a factor in influencing and shaping the culture of intelligence. Further on, the paper will analyze the mechanisms emplaced in appropriating and renegotiating the topics of Securitate, archives, lustration and de-communization within the cultural space in Romania. Last but not least and perhaps risking to attach an emotional tone, the paper is aimed to contribute to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of a key historical period that few states share but that keeps imprinting not only national collective imaginary but the overall structure of the debate about freedom, justice and democracy at a global scale.

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