Some Controversial Issues of Current Romanian Civic Culture.

The main premise from which my study starts is the existence of a historical and psychological continuity at the level of the Romanian political culture before and after communism. Relevant to the nature of political system in which it manifests and to the "basic personality" which spreads, civic culture is a variable whose value indicates the economic development and the high level of democratic institutions, the confidence and hope that decisions will depend of citizens. Civic culture also assume a concern for knowledge, a vocation whereby it grows even when political environment is not favorable to this preoccupation. The current economic and democratic crisis prove that civic culture exercise is almost impossible not only in totalitarian regimes. Beyond theoretical premises, this communication takes into account some historical and psychological features of the Romanian political culture on which it can be sketched the portrait of the Romanian citizen whose current "critical" activity is not taken into account by representatives of political power. In this respect, we use the procurement of political philosophy, but also those of policy compared, and we assume that the space (at least intentional) of democracy is that where the citizen may exercise loyalty and participatory skills. We find that underdevelopment of genuine civic culture, the persistance of patriarchal or dependent culture and offensive of subculture, the citizen passivity, corruption, careerism, opportunism and selfishness, amorality that privileges the circumstantially meaning of the civic culture led to a widespread democratic deception. Could the Romanian citizen find constructive solutions or alternatives in this decadent political situation through participatory democracy? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Stiinte Politice / Revue des Sciences Politiques is the property of University of Craiova and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)