Scientific Annals of “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iasi (New Series) POLITICAL SCIENCE

What Four Romanian Intellectuals Want from the President of Their Country

Ovidiu Gherasim-Proca — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

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What Do We Choose: the Leaders, the Parties or the Ideologies? A Case Study for the 2016-2020 Local Elections in Romania, in Iași County

Dorina Țicu — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This article aims to make a theoretical incursion on electoral behavior highlighting/ stressing the key-factors which could influence voters’ electoral decision: the relations between political leaders and the parties they belong to, the left-right ideology of political parties/leaders.
Starting from the theoretical analyses carried out especially for the electoral rounds at national/central level, the article aims to outline the formula of determinism between local leaders appointed for Mayors in local elections in order to influence the results of electoral elections in relation to the vote obtained by parties for the nomination of elected representatives proposed for Local Councils/parties to which they belong, also appealing to the left-right ideological dimension, represented by the two parties that dominated political life after 1989 in Romania, PSD (Social-Democrat Party) and PNL (National Liberal Party), respectively.
The proposed analysis is a quantitative, an exploratory and a comparative one, starting from the results obtained in Iasi County in the local elections of 2016-2020 for the appointment of Mayors (political leader) and of Local Councils (party/ideology).

John of Salisbury on the Role and the Limits of Political Power

Bogdan Constantin Mihailescu — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Usually, John of Salisbury is related to medieval hierocratic political reflection. However, the treatise Policraticus offers a much more nuanced analysis. The efforts that John makes to find the necessary conceptual tools for the moderation of power and to find it a legitimate space of existence are remarkable. Moreover, John of Salisbury is concerned with emphasizing harmony over hierarchy, liberty over rigidity, and social cooperation over coercion. Thus, there are arguments to be made that John of Salisbury is not only one of the main medieval writers, but also one who announces a new way of understanding politics.

Comments on „Romania's Integration into the Soviet Sphere of Influence (1944-1947)”, by Emanuel Copilaș

Ovidiu Gherasim-Proca — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This bibliographic essay was occasioned by what we consider to be one of the most significant editorial events of 2023, the publication of the book "Romania's integration into the Soviet sphere of influence (1944-1947). International and local perspectives", by Emanuel Copilaș. Although, apparently, there are few things left to research regarding the history of the period, Emanuel Copilaș's book draws attention to realities that are often passed over in silence and polemicizes with a historiographical direction that has become dominant within the boundaries of the Romanian post-socialist culture. This historiographical school of thought, encouraged by present day political education, tends to give the complex process of transition of the Romanian state from the capitalist monarchical regime to the communist government a much simplified representation, which hyperbolically depicts the conflicts between interests, intentions and motivations unfolding during the first post-war years in terms of a struggle between good and evil, without any attempt at contextualization. The questions raised within the pages of the book regarding the role of political interpretation of historical data open a difficult intellectual conversation, with numerous ramifications, which requires further research and inspire collateral reflections. Therefore, what was initially intended to be a simple review turned into an extended commentary, which goes beyond the boundaries of the book's subject matter and proceeds to exemplification by extensively citing various related sources.