National (dis)unity, nation-building and

democratization in the short-and-long-run

The unfinished transition of Moldova

Xhensila Gaba

Course: Current Debates in Political Science

Instructor: Ilir Kalemaj

Spring 2012

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Structure of the paper

I. Introduction

II. Research questions

III. Literature review

a. The linkages between nation and democracy: theoretical framework

IV. Thesis statement

V. Methodology

VI. Body paragraph 1:

a. Moldova’s transitology: Democratization under national disunity and

separatism (short-term impact of national disputes)

VII. Body paragraph 2:

a. National division and democratization: Negative impact on the long-run

VIII. Conclusions

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Abstract

The dissolution of USSR was accompanied with the problem of stateness. Inter-ethnic

and nationalistic clashes emerged during the regime change. The fall of Communism was like

the opening of Pandora’s Box. Once USSR disintegrated, ethnic and nationalistic claims

complicated the transitional period of many former Soviet states due to their heterogeneous

composition of the population. Still today many of the former Soviet states have not yet finished

their democratization process, but they are left in the “grey zone”, neither authoritarian nor

democratic. Ukraine for example has formed a hybrid regime. On the other hand, the case of

Belarus shows for a backlash of the transition through becoming an authoritarian regime and the

“last dictatorship of Europe”. Moldova has suffered violent civil wars due to nationalistic

problems. Its democratization is hostage of Transnistrian conflict, a separatist region that is

impeding its consolidation. The aim of this paper is to research on the relation between

nationalism, nation-building and democratization. Some scholars argue that national unity is a

precondition for the democratization to occur, whereas others argue that national disunity can

distract malicious authoritarian ambitions in some cases, and therefore this disunity helps in

reaching democracy. After reviewing the literature I focus on the impact of national division on

democratization both in the short-run and in the long-run. Timing constitutes an important

element of my thesis. Theories are applied for the case of Moldovan transition. Is nationalism a

deadlock for Moldovan democratization?

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Introduction

Once USSR broke down, nationalistic sentiments that were oppressed under the Soviet

centralized rule emerged right after the dissolution by complicating in this way the

democratization process in multiethnic societies. Many former-Soviet states have gone through a

violent process of democratic transition, some ending in civil wars, genocide or even separatist

movements like the case of Abkhazia in Georgia or Transnistria in Moldova. The main cause

behind civil wars and secessionism are the disputes among ethnic groups which re-emerged as

soon as the central power collapsed, but this time their nationalistic claims were harder to control

and thus affecting the democratization process. Although all former-Soviet states embarked on

the transitional process but they have undertaken different paths and hence the outcomes of the

process have been different. Baltic States have completed their transition and consolidation,

others have stuck in the “grey zones” and as for the case of Belarus, its transition has failed by

returning to a nondemocratic regime (Polsdottir, 2011). Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova are still

struggling in their way towards democratization and the national disunity seems to be a major

factor.

The third wave of democratization emerged into countries that were culturally and

ethnically fragmented. Thus, these new events paved the way for researching further on the

linkages between ethnic identity, nationalism, nation-building and democratization. Many

viewed national fragmentation as an obstacle to democratization process. The third wave of

democratization in Eastern Europe and Soviet Union became a contextual frame for emphasizing

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upon the issue of stateness as a necessary prerequisite for a successful democratization (McFaul,

2002).

The Republic of Moldova represents the case of a multiethnic population which soon

after declaring its independence on 27 August 1991, it found itself in difficulty with regard to

managing nationalistic sentiments (Protsyk, 2009). Moldova probably never thought of a long-

term vision of the state and how the multiethnic interests would be accommodated within the

rules of the new democratic regime. However, Moldova has reached relatively high standards of

democracy. Referring to procedural democracy, Moldova has accomplished many of the

procedural indicators such as free elections every year, political pluralism (although a pluralism

by default, which will be analyzed in the following sector), or relative freedom of organization in

political and civil society. However, the scope of this paper is not to analyze deeper on the

procedural level of democracy in Moldova, as it is accepted the pro-Western orientation of

Moldova (USAID, 2005). The paper will focus on the impact of national heterogeneity in the

democratization process of Moldova. The implications of nation-building processes for the

unfinished democratic transition of Moldova will be analyzed below.

Research questions

Given the events of the third wave of democratization in Eastern Europe and Soviet

Union, the aim of this paper is to research on the relation between nationalism and

democratization. What is the role of nationalism to the democratization processes of ethnically

heterogeneous states? How are nationalistic disputes implicated in processes of democratization

or de-democratization? And in the case of Moldova, why has Moldova failed to finish its

transition and fully consolidate despite achieving quite high standards of democracy?

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Why has Moldova failed to complete its democratization process? What is the role of

nationalism and nation-building in the democratization process of Moldova?

Literature review

Democratization includes the process of transition and consolidation from a

nondemocratic regime to a more democratic one. However the timing of this process varies and

the ending point is never certain. The transition and consolidation of democratic regime are

subsequent process or they can be achieved simultaneously as in the case of Portugal. However,

a successful democratization finishes as soon as democracy becomes the “only game in town”

(Linz&Stepan, 1996). The phase of transition implies a shift from one political system to another

and it can be three or four-fold including liberalization (or marketization phase as Kuzio names

it), nation-building and state-building. Linz and Stepan (1996) have argued that the defining of a

political community through the processes of nation-building and state-building remain at the

fore of democratization.

Nation-building, as one of the transitional processes, is focused on strengthening a

common national identity among the peoples of a state. Nationalistic claims are fueled by

legacies of ethnic grievances among ethnic groups and those claims are revived in transitional

periods. Kuzio (2002) notes that transition includes parallel processes, but in the case of

Moldova transition occurred even in the absence of a successful nation-building. The attempts to

establish either Romanian or Moldovan nation have contributed in pushing forward state-

building and democratization. However, transition has not finished yet despite all the

achievements and this implies that national disunity can be quite a risk in long-run

democratization processes.

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a. The linkages between nation and democracy: theoretical framework

In analyzing the relation between nation and democracy, scholars have elaborated two

opposite approaches with regard to the prerequisites for democracy. The first approach is the

classical model developed by Rustow which argues that democratization needs acceptance or

agreement by the population of a state in defining the political community (Johansson, 2011). If

there is a coherent political community, then political parties are less likely to challenge the

assumptions of what lies in the national interest. For a democracy to rule and prevail, it is

essential that the members of a state all agree on what constitutes the borders of the political

community. According to the Rustow’s classical theory, the national disunity is a challenge and

obstacle to democratization. Moreover, other authors argue the same thing. For example, John

Stuart Mill argues that ethnic diversity and ethnic nationalistic claims represent major obstacles

to the stability of democracy (Beissinger, 2007). The ideas of Rustow were further developed by

O’Donnell, Schmitter and Whitehead, but these studies were focused mostly on Southern Europe

and Latin America, countries in which the problem of stateness was not a worrying factor for

democratization. Hence further research needed to be developed to prove whether the classical

theory was geographically isolated or not.

The second approach for democratization is developed by Lucan Way and it argues the

opposite of the classical theory. According to Lucan, national disunity may help democratization

because it prevents autocratic ambitions to collect massive support since the attention is focused

on the nationalistic claims of each group (Johansson, 2011). This theory is groundbreaking with

regard to the earlier understanding of national disunity as a negative factor for democratization.

Furthermore, Way asserts that national disunity may promote pluralism in the short run, although

it hinders consolidation in the long run.

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As for the political context including political parties and leadership during transitional

periods, Lucan Way has developed the model of pluralism by default (Johansson, 2001). A

plurality by default occurs when the political actors are not able to control the power and the

weakening of certain nondemocratic features occurs not by the desire of the actors, but because

of lack of control and lack of ability to mobilize resources within the state. In other words, the

pluralist system is not by choice of the political actors, but because of the inability to centralize

power. According to Way, national division is a factor that influences the state of pluralism by

default.

When is consolidation reached? The literature suggests that it is much easier to study

transition at its initial phase rather than analyze its shift from transitional period to consolidation

of democracy. The same happens with nation-building processes. It is easier to study the

phenomena per se than identify when a state has moved from nation-building phase to being an

uncontested and generally accepted nation. Consolidation of democracy and nation, however are

more fluid than state-building. However, according to Przeworski, democracy is consolidated

when it becomes the “only game in town”. Further specification is provided by Linz and Stepan

(1996) who define a consolidated democracy based on three aspects: behaviorally, attitudinally

and constitutionally.

Thesis statement

In this paper, I argue that in the case of Moldova national disunity has had a positive

short-term impact on distracted authoritarian ambitions of the political leadership through

diverting their focus in nationalistic propaganda rather than back lashing the transition, as in case

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of Belarus. However, I further argue that national disunity is a negative factor and deadlock for

the long-term continuance of democratization by impeding democratic consolidation.

Methodology

The research method used in this paper is mostly a bibliographic research consisting of reviewed

articles. I aim to research on the relation between nationalism (the independent variable) and

democratization (the dependent variable) in order to see how these two variables are correlated to

each other. I apply the theoretical framework to the case of Moldova.

Moldova’s transitology: Democratization under national disunity and separatism

The Republic of Moldova provides an interesting case study. It is a new state in South-

Eastern Europe that did not have ethnic homogeneity as a base of its foundation. Its ethnic

composition is made out of Romanians, Ukrainians, Russians, Gagauzians and Bulgarians.

Nowadays, Moldova is a unitary state divided into 32 counties, five municipalities, the

Gagauzian autonomous territorial unit in the South and the Transnistrian territorial unit which

functions as a de facto state in the East (Johansson, 2011). The division of Moldova is a result of

ethnic cleavages, but also the fault of the leadership because their prospected the future of

Moldova in line with their own interests. Gagauzian case was managed to be resolved more

easily by granting autonomy to five enclaves, whereas the Transnistrian conflict resulted in

violent civil war and it ended with a secessionist movement which is not resolved yet. These

conflicts are keeping Moldova far from finishing its democratization process (Ragone, 2011).

The politics of Moldova have largely been affected by how the nation has been

understood. Moldova has suffered from ethno-political tensions that are reflected inside the

country as internal conflicts that pertain to the rights to representation, territory, and self-

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identification. With regard to culture, the population is divided into pro-eastern Moldovans and

pro-western Romanian. Even the political parties are aligned according to their nationalistic

ambitions. The rightist are asking for Moldova being part of Romania (as the largest ethnic group

is Romanians), the centrist for the independence of Moldova and the leftists for reunification

with Russia (Tudoroiu, 2011). Since its independence in 1991, the country has gone through

armed conflict. Even though the authoritarian system collapsed, Moldova’s regime change does

not necessarily imply a democratization process in which the end would be the democratic

consolidation of Moldova. It all depends on how the impeding factors would be addressed in

order for Moldova not to have the same destiny as Ukraine or Georgia in being hybrid regimes.

As reviewed in the literature, nation, being it national unity or disunity, influences much

the process of democratization (Kuzio, 2002). It is difficult to build democracy in a country

plagued by violent secessionist movements. Indeed, Moldova suffered from Transnistrian war

and the de facto independence of this region affected severely Moldova’s political system and

democratization. However, despite the problems of nation-building and separatism, Moldova has

managed to develop most of democratic indicators. How is it possible? Moldova case fits mostly

in the theoretical approach developed by Lucan Way. Moldova is a case of pluralism by default,

meaning that Moldova is more the example of a failed form of authoritarianism rather than the

example of a finished transition (Johansson, 2011). The rivaling parties and politics were result

of a fragmented elite and weak state unable to centralize political control, in which national

conflicts are identified as major causes. Moldova’s democracy is thereby result of a lucky by-

product of the political elite’s failure to monopolize the domestic political scene (Munoglu,

2011). During the 1990s, the tensions over national identity were harsh enough to weaken

monopolizing efforts by any political actor (Johansson, 2011). Consequently they helped prevent

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the consolidation of a stable and effective democratic government. Transnistrian case diverted

the attention of Moldovans away from democratization and instead of following the democratic

pro-western trajectory of the Baltic Republics, Moldova found itself in the trap of ethnic

conflicts and crisis management.

National division and democratization: Negative impact on the long-run

The Moldovan case raises questions as to how nations are built and on what grounds

democracy is achieved. Democracy is based on the assumption of a enclosed polity, but it does

not suggest how the political community has to be defined (Beissinger, 2007). As pointed out by

Connor, nation-building involves both the destruction of competing nationalisms and the

promotion of a common identity (Johansson, 2011). To politicians, national identity remains an

instrument they can use to win the support of the electorate. Although parliamentary mandates

may be yielded, it implies for an ongoing polarization of society on the basis of identity which is

very difficult to be resolved compared to socio-economic challenges (Munoglu, 2011). Political

elites have often manipulated ethnic identities for their political ends. On the one hand, this has

provided a platform for pluralism. On the other hand, it has locked politics to non-negotiable

identity positions. But should Moldova be assessed as a divided house in which the democratic

consolidation is less likely to happen?

As Lucan Way proposes, national disunity may in fact foster pluralism in the short run,

but it works against consolidation in the long run. The unusual nature of Moldova’s

democratization led Way to consider how relatively high standards of democracy can be

maintained and developed even when classical model for democratization suggests otherwise

(USAID, 2005). But there is a point in which both theories, the classical one and Way’s theory,

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intersect: without national unity, the democratization is incomplete or impossible and thus makes

democratic consolidation a lost cause in the long-term. Although national disunity has had a

relative positive short-term impact on preventing the centralization of power and resources into

malicious authoritarian hands, as in the case of Belarus, still national divisions and particularly

separatist movements impede and challenge the end of the transition and full consolidation.

Moldova’s case have the potentials in assessing the national problem by increasing

representation and political participation through federalist system as a solution it is suggested in

every multi-ethnic state. The democratization of Transnistria region needs to be addressed as

well, in order for the two regimes to align towards completing the democratization process.

Another observation on Moldova is that national divisions are not manifested equally on all

levels. While national identity is a source of conflict on political level, on the individual or group

level it is not so controversial or a topic of concern (Polsdottir, 2011). This leaves room for hope

that the problem of national identity can be solved from below by people, so a bottom up

process.

Conclusion

Despite having a multiethnic population and legacy of past grievances among the ethnic

groups which have made difficult the democratization process, Moldova has managed to reach

much of the democratic standards and hence increasing the chances for full consolidation.

Moldovan case fits more the Lucan Way’s theoretical framework which asserts that national

disunity helps in achieving democratic standards in “pluralism by default” systems. Way argues

that the national disputes have diverted the authoritarian intentions of the political actors. Also,

the theory of Way does not discourage any democratization process that starts without national

unity. However I divided the impact of national disunity on Moldova’s democratization into two

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categories: short-term impacts and long-term impacts. In the short-term, Moldova has benefited

in a way from the national divisions since it has helped in implementing a system of pluralism by

default. Political leaders were much worried in gaining power through making use of national

disputes rather than mobilization of resources for centralization of power. However, in the long

run, national disunity becomes a serious threat and challenge for the consolidation of Moldova.

Transnistrian conflict, among other factors as well, is impeding Moldova to finish its transition

and it has left the country on the crossroads. A solution to the case of Moldova is federalism and

proportional electoral system.

At the end, Moldova is a case study that contradicts the classical theory which argues that

without national unity and without a common political community, the democratization is likely

to fail. Moldova has progress in its democratic transition, despite the nationalist problem, being

as such a case study for the encouragement of other multinational countries that aspire to

democratize. On the other hand, Moldova is still an unfinished transition, because as both

theories agree, national unity and common agreement on the political community is essential for

long-term consolidation.

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References

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