Competing Identities: The Construction of National Identity in the Republic of Moldova

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Ion, Florin Valentin
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies, Russian, Eurasian and East European Concentration

Abstract

This paper discusses the competing processes for national identity construction in the Republic of Moldova between a Moldovan national identity and a Romanian national identity. The paper follows three main theories of national identity construction coined by Keith Darden, David Laitin and Rogers Brubaker and surveys the implementation of mass schooling in interwar Romania, the shift in national identity of Moldova during the Soviet Union and the process of national identity building in independent Moldova. I argue that the group who controls institutions also controls the future identity of the country. The education system is the main creator of national identity and after the collapse of the Soviet Union the Moldovan education system was controlled by the pro-Romanian identity groups. I conclude that the number of Moldovans who self-identify with Romanian language has increased significantly in the last two decades.

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