Democratization and political alienation: the legacies of post-communist transition in Romania

Abstract

A frequent finding in the political behavior literature is that citizens from Central and Eastern Europe participate less in politics than their western neighbors. While political institutions have democratized and consolidated in some of these countries (i.e. the new EU member states), overall civic and political activism of citizens from the former communist states knows an obvious setback. This article focuses on Romania and traces the sources of political disengagement to the problems of post-communist transition in this country. The findings reveal that public expectations during the transition processes (i.e. demand side) have largely diverged from the perceived democratic performance of political authorities (i.e. supply side). Thus, the paper identifies widespread disappointments with the perceived outcomes of the political process as a key source of political alienation in post-communist Romania. Pervasive symptoms of political alienation in this country include feelings of political exclusion, helplessness and political ineffectiveness, distrust of politicians and political institutions, lack of interest in politics and the perception of politics as irrelevant to people's lives. All these further hinder citizen participation in the democratic process.