A RADICAL REFORM PROJECT: FEDERALISM AND ETHNONATIONALISM IN THE THOUGHT OF A.C. POPOVICI
A RADICAL REFORM PROJECT: FEDERALISM AND ETHNONATIONALISM IN THE THOUGHT OF A.C. POPOVICI

Summary/Abstract: THE AIM OF THIS PAPER IS TO PROVIDE AN OVERVIEW OF THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE RADICAL REFORM PROJECT PURSUED BY A.C. POPOVICI. A ROMANIAN INTELLECTUAL WHO BECAME KNOWN AS A CONTROVERSIAL, YET RESOURCEFUL POLITICAL THINKER IN THE LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURIES, POPOVICI’S MOST FAMOUS PROJECT CAN BE FOUND IN HIS PERSISTENT ATTEMPT TO CHANGE THE NATURE OF THE AUSTROHUNGARIAN EMPIRE THROUGH A PARTICULAR PERSPECTIVE. THIS WAS A PERSPECTIVE WHICH MIXED FEDERALISATION WITH NATIONALISM AND A CONSERVATIVE, ELITIST OUTLOOK WHICH WAS SIMULTANEOUSLY HIGHLY CRITICAL OF WHAT IT SAW AS THE LEVELLING EFFECTS OF WESTERN UNIVERSALISM AND DEMOCRACY. THE PAPER LARGELY FOCUSSES ON IDENTIFYING THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTS IN THIS REGARD, SUCH AS FEDERALISM, ETHNO-NATIONALISM, AND RACE, WHILST ATTEMPTING TO INCLUDE SOME OF THE MOST RELEVANT SOURCES WHICH WERE INSTRUMENTAL FOR THE FORMATION OF POPOVICI’S VISION. MOREOVER, AS MOST OF THE AUTHORS WHICH HAVE APPROACHED POPOVICI IN ANY SERIOUS, SYSTEMATIC FASHION ARE HISTORIANS BY FORMATION, THE PAPER SERVES TO INTRODUCE THE STUDY OF HIS THOUGHT TO CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL SCIENTISTS. DESPITE THE INHERENT CONTRADICTIONS AND POTENTIAL ISSUES ONE MAY UNCOVER IN POPOVICI’S PROJECT, THE PAPER CONCLUDES THAT HIS THOUGHT, INVOLVING FEDERALISM, ETHNIC TENSIONS, AND THE IMPACT OF MODERNITY, IS WORTH REVISITING.

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