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Ethnic Politics and the Post-Communist Transition in Moldova*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

William Crowther
William Crowther*
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA
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Extract

During the late 1980s the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldavia, like many other regions within the former USSR, entered into a period of political turmoil. As the grip of the Communist Party weakened, increasingly serious conflict broke out between the Romanian-speaking majority and minority activists. Separatist forces quickly established themselves in two of the republic's regions, Transnistria on the east bank of the Dnestr river and the Gagauz districts in the south. Both claimed sovereignty and forcibly resisted the authority of the central government. By 1992 severe fighting was underway, especially in Transnistria, and Moldova appeared to be on the verge of a spiral into unrestrained civil conflict. Yet, by 1995, nationalist forces in Moldova had declined, and one of the two separatist conflicts, that in the Gagauz region, had been resolved by the peaceful reintegration of the Gagauz into Moldova. The second conflict, in Transnistria, was at least partially defused, and escalation was avoided.

Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , March 1998 , pp. 147 - 164
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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References

Notes

* The survey research in Moldova cited in this study was funded by a grant from the National Council for Soviet and East European Research.Google Scholar

1. Eight of the 14 raions that made up the Moldovan ASSR were then joined with Bessarabia to form a new Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova. Districts to the north of the current republic and the area between the Dnestr and Prut rivers to the South were incorporated into the Ukraine.Google Scholar

2. On the postwar famine see “White Spaces in the History of the Republic,” Moldova Socialistă, 4 August 1988, p. 3. On collectivization see Tikhorov, A., “Collectivization: Against White Spaces,” Moldova Socialistă, 3 February 1989, p. 3.Google Scholar

3. Vizhutovich, V. and Kondratov, E., “Post Script: Concerning the Art of Making Opponents,” Moldova Socialistă, 23 April 1989, p. 4. Article appeared originally in Izvestia, 21 April 1989.Google Scholar

4. The Moldovan Popular Front was formed out of the mobilization engendered by the efforts of the Democratic Movement in Support of Restructuring and of the Mateevich Circle; and it included in its ranks many of the leaders of both of those crucial early reform organizations.Google Scholar

5. On the political dynamics of this period see Crowther, William, “The Politics of Ethnonational Mobilization: Nationalism and Reform in Soviet Moldavia,” The Russian Review, Vol. 50, No. 2, April 1991, pp. 183–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6. The Republic of Moldova (Chişinău: Foreign Relations Committee of the Republic of Moldova, n.d.), p. 16.Google Scholar

7. Snegur, a Central Committee Secretary since 1985, was appointed President of the Moldavian Supreme Soviet by S. K. Grossu in July 1989.Google Scholar

8. On conditions in Transnistria and the relationship between its leaders and the Russian Federation see King, Charles, “Eurasia Letter: Moldova with a Russian Face,” Foreign Policy, No. 97, Winter 1994–1995, pp. 106–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

9. The results of the election, held on 8 December 1991, were overwhelming. Snegur, who ran unopposed, received 98.2% of the votes cast.Google Scholar

10. Sangheli is a former Communist Party Raion Committee First Secretary and a member of the republican Council of Ministers. He played a prominent role in the removal of the extremely reactionary Simion Grossu from the position of Party First Secretary at the end of the Soviet period.Google Scholar

11. Moldova Suverana, 20 August 1992, p. 1.Google Scholar

12. “Poporul Trebuie Intrebat şi Ascultat” (The People Must be Asked and Listened to), Moldova Suverana, 26 December 1992, p. 1.Google Scholar

13. Petru Luchinschi returned from his post as Ambassador to Moscow to replace Moşanu and to assume leadership of the parliament. Moldova Suverana, 6 February 1993, p. 1.Google Scholar

14. The rules governing the 1994 legislative elections were enacted on 14 October 1993. These called for a new legislature, smaller than its predecessor, with 104 as opposed to 380 deputies. In order to avoid an impasse concerning representation from the separatist regions, or complicate negotiations concerning future territorial boundaries, Moldovan leaders decided to employ a single national electoral district for the election. While not ensuring participation in the separatist region, this mechanism allowed elections to go forward, selecting a body of delegates whose constituency was the entire republic, regardless of their individual places of residence.Google Scholar

15. The data in this table is drawn from Electorala ‘94: Documente şi Cifre (Chişinău, 1994).Google Scholar

16. The Socialist Bloc dominated the urban vote, taking first place in five out of the republic's seven cities, where workers and Russian speakers are concentrated. The Agrarian Democrats, on the other hand, took first place (usually quite heavily) in all of the rural raions and in the two cities not won by the Socialists. One of the two cities where the Agrarians took a plurality of the vote was clearly a special case. This was Bender, the site of substantial conflict and population movement.Google Scholar

17. The questionnaire referred to in this article was administered by personnel of the ethnography and sociology institutes of the Moldovan Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Sociology of Moldova in June and July of 1992. Approximately 1,600 respondents were selected based upon national probability samples. A stratified sample was drawn based on historical region and type of locality (rural, small towns, and cities). Face to face interviews were employed in this project. Members of minority communities were recruited to administer the survey in minority districts, and minority language versions of the survey instrument were prepared for the use of members of the larger minority groups. Subjects were provided with an opportunity to choose the language in which they wished to respond. Respondents were 70.3% ethnic-Moldovan, 12.2% Ukrainian, 10.8% Russian, and 6.7% other.Google Scholar

18. When one considers attitudes concerning policy issues related to inter-ethnic relations a similar image emerges. For a more detailed discussion of majority and minority attitudes on these issues see William Crowther, “Nationalism and Political Transformation in Moldova,” in Dyer, Donald, ed., Studies in Moldovan: The Culture, Language, and Contemporary Politics of the People of Moldova (Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, forthcoming).Google Scholar

19. See Crowther, , “Nationalism and Political Transformation in Moldova.”Google Scholar

20. Confidence in the Popular Front by Urban-Rural Google Scholar

Support for Nationalist Movements by Education Google Scholar

22. Analysis of Variance: Education by Attitudes Toward Moldovan-Foreign Relations and Strength of Identification with the Moldovan State Google Scholar

23. Support for Nationalist Movements by Moldovans Who Have Minority Friends Google Scholar

Support for Nationalist Movements by Moldovans Who Have Minority Neighbors Google Scholar

Support for Nationalist Movements by Minorities in Work Environment Google Scholar

Confidence in the Popular Front by Moldovans Who Have Minority Neighbors Google Scholar

Confidence in the Popular Front by Minorities in Work Environment Google Scholar

24. Support for Nationalist Movements by Moldovans Who Have Minority Friends Controlling for Education and Urban–Rural Google Scholar

Support for Nationalist Movements by Moldovans Who Have Minority Neighbors Controlling for Education and Urban–Rural Google Scholar

Support for Nationalist Movements by Minorities in Work Environment Controlling for Education and Urban–Rural Google Scholar

Confidence in the Popular Front by Minorities in Work Environment Controlling for Education and Urban–Rural Google Scholar

25. Analysis of Variance: Confidence in Edinstvo by Urban–Rural Google Scholar

26. Analysis of Variance: Strength of Identification with the National State By Education Google Scholar

27. Support for Nationalist Movements by Minorities Who Have Moldovan Friends Google Scholar

Support for Nationalist Movements by Minorities Who Have Moldovan Neighbors Google Scholar

Confidence in the Edinstvo by Minorities Who Have Moldovan Friends Google Scholar

28. Confidence in Edinstvo by Respondent Immigrant Google Scholar

Support for a Nationalist Movement by Respondent Immigrant Google Scholar

This apparently contradictory result is attributable to the high levels of support found among Russians and the fact that more Russians than anyone else are recent immigrants. Nonimmigrant Gagauz, Ukrainians and Bulgarians, on the other hand, are more likely than immigrants to be supporters of their respective national associations.Google Scholar