Development discourse in Romania:
from Socialism to EU Membership
Creators: name: Oprea, Mirela <1977>
Publisher: name: Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna
Year: 2009
Subjects: SPS/13 Storia e istituzioni dell'Africa

description: With their accession to the European Union, twelve new countries - Romania among
them - (re)entered the international community of international donors. In the history of
development aid this can be seen as a unique event: it is for the first time in history that
such a large number of countries become international donors, with such short notice and
in such a particular context that sees some scholars announcing the ‘death’ of
development. But in spite of what might be claimed regarding the ‘end’ of the
development era, development discourse seems to be rather vigorous and in good health:
it is able to extert an undeniable force of attraction over the twelve countries that, in a
matter of years, have already convinced themselves of its validity and adhered to its main
tenets.
This thesis collects evidence for improving our understanding of this process that sees the
co-optation of twelve new countries to the dominant theory and practice of development
cooperation. The evidence collected seems to show that one of the tools employed by the
promoters of this co-optation process is that of constructing the ‘new’ Member States as
‘new’, inexpert donors that need to learn from the ‘old’ ones.
By taking a case-study approach, this thesis gathers data that suggests that conceiving of
the ‘twelve’ as ‘new’ donors is both historically inaccurate and value-ladden. On one
hand, Romania’s case-study illustrates how in the (socialist) past at least one in the group
of the twelve was particularly conversant in the discourse of international development.
On the other hand, the process of co-optation, while being presented as a knowledgeproducing
process, can also be seen as an ignorance-producing procedure: Romania,
along with its fellow new Member States, takes the opportunity of ‘building its capacity’
and ‘raising its awareness’ of development cooperation along the line drawn by the
European Union, but at the same time it seems to un-learn and ‘lower’ its awareness of
development experience in the (socialist) past.
This is one possible reading of this thesis. At a different level, this thesis can also be seen
as an attempt to account of almost five decades of international development discourse in
one specific country – Romania – in three different socio-political contexts: the socialist
years (up to the year 1989), the ‘transition years’ (from 1989 to the pre-accession years)
and the membership to the European Union. In this second reading, the thesis seeks to
illustrate how – contrary to widespread beliefs – before 1989 Romania’s international
development discourse was particularly vivid: in the most varied national and
international settings President Ceausescu unfolded an extensive discursive activity on
issues pertaining to international development; generous media coverage of affairs
concerning the developing countries and their fight for development was the rule rather
than the exception; the political leadership wanted the Romanians not only to be
familiarized with (or ‘aware of’ to use current terminology) matters of
underdevelopment, but also to prove a sense of solidarity with these countries, as well as
a sense of pride for the relations of ‘mutual help’ that were being built with them; finally,
international development was object of academic attention and the Romanian scholars
were able not only to reflect on major developments, but could also formulate critical
positions towards the practices of development aid. Very little remains of all this during
the transition years, while in the present those who are engaged in matters pertaining to
international development do so with a view of building Romania as an EU-compliant
donor.