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This book explores the dynamics behind Romania’s relationship with the European Union from the collapse of the Ceaucescu regime in 1989, to its recent accession to the EU in 2007. As a completely up-to-date and detailed study, it identifies key developments in EU-Romania relations, as well as the challenges Romania faced in its efforts move from the margins of the European integration to EU membership. In so doing, the analysis contributes to wider debates about the dynamics underpinning EU enlargement. Moreover, the book reveals the consequences and limits of Europeanization.

Romania and the European Union analyses:

• the impact of integration on the consolidation of democracy in Romania;
• the country’s economic development, in accordance with the EU’s Copenhagen criterion - the need for acceding states to possess a ‘functioning market economy’;
• the process of macroeconomic reform;
• the reform of its public administration;
• the country’s efforts in implementing the EU’s acquis in the areas of justice and home affairs –a focal point in the accession negotiations given Romania’s geographical location, and its vulnerability as a major transit point for illegal migration and trafficking into the EU – and securing its external borders;
• the EU’s role in promoting reform as well as the limits of EU influence
• the obstacles Romania has had to overcome in meeting the demanding pre-requisites of accession to the EU.

This book identifies the EU’s role in promoting reform, but equally the limits of EU influence. It reveals the obstacles Romania has had to overcome in meeting the demanding pre-requisites of accession to the EU.

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Russia Government and Business Contacts Handbook ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from East European Quarterly, published by East European Quarterly on January 1, 1998. The length of the article is 8414 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: The Democratic Convention of Romania's (CDR) fragmentation in 1995 helped the party win support in the 1996 national elections. Several of the CDR leaders viewed the coalition differently, and its dissolution overcame internal divisions. The CDR has, since 1996, formed a government with some members of the coalition, requiring it to continue reducing internal tensions.

Citation Details
Title: From opposition to government coalition: unity and fragmentation within the Democratic Convention of Romania.
Author: Steven D. Roper
Publication: East European Quarterly (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 1998
Publisher: East European Quarterly
Volume: v31Issue: n4Page: p519(24)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

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Chapters: Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Administration and Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chamber of Deputies of Romania, Palace of the Parliament, Romanian Identity Card, Standing Bureau of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania, Standing Bureau of the Senate of Romania, Ministry of Education, Research, Innovation, Youth and Sport, President of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania, Ministry of Labor, Family and Social Protection, National Institute of Statistics, Supreme Council of National Defense, National Agency for the Roma, Mottos of Romanian Institutions, Elie Wiesel National Institute for Studying the Holocaust in Romania, Romanian Ombudsman, Ministry of Public Finance, Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises, Commerce and Business Environment, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Business Environment, Ministry of Communications and Information Society, Monitorul Oficial, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism, Ministry of Culture and National Patrimony, Order of Precedence in Romania, Ministry of Health, National Council of Academic Evaluation, Ministry of Relations With the Parliament. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 100. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Coat of arms of the Romanian Ministry of Defense The Ministry of National Defense (Romanian: ) is one of the fifteen ministries of the Government of Romania. As of 23 December 2009 the Minister of Defense is Gabriel Oprea. Military spending as a percentage of GDP.The Ministry of National Defense is the specialized body of the central public administration submitted to the Government conducting t...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=6186973 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Structure of and people in the Securitate
How does someone find out about the organizational structure and the people within the Securitate (the secret security police of Romania)? Well, this book gives those details. An organization that is devoted to secrecy is opened to the public by this book.

The Securitate was used effectively and efficiently by Ceausescu to remove all opposition to his rule and to keep his citizens in line through terror and fear. Ordinary citizens sometimes knew the agents installed in their schools, at their workspaces, or at their meeting places ... but they weren't always obvious ... many never knew who was an agent or an informer ... friends, coworkers, even family.

How did normal, otherwise good people allow themselves to become a part of this repressive arm of Ceausescu's communist regime? Well, many of the answers are in this book. It discusses how the Communist Party gained support for the Securitate, how they coerced people into complying with the Securitate's demands, and even how some tried to rebel against the omnipresent Securitate.

Although the long list of names, many of whom I have never heard of before, is occasionally boring, at least I know where to find them if I ever read about one of them. This is a subject that could consume many volumes if covered in detail (there are millions of files on citizens), but this book does an excellent job in the extent of its coverage while keeping the book small enough to hold in my lap.

Unfortunately, the book is VERY hard to find. But if you can find it, you will be glad you bought it!

Top-class study of Ceausescu's abominations
This is in my view the most authoritative study of the Ceausescu system to have been published since the dictator's execution in 1989. Very well written and quite fascinating. It puts more sensationalist and hastilyproduced works to shame.

Personal and academic perspective on Romania's History
Probabaly what drew me to the book was the knowledge that Deletant had a long association with the regime of Ceasuescu and a strong academic understanding of the system. He writes with personal candour and an eye fora good story.He also has the ability to bring large numbers of factstogether with consummate ease. Probably the best researched volume on thesubject.

Extensively researchedwork on Communist Romania
This British author speaks fluent Romanian, married a Romanian wife, and lived in Communist Romania.The result is well-researched history, supplemented by personal experience (such as his attempts to get anemigration permit for his wife). ... Read more

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The most comprehensive study of Romanian politics ever published abroad, this volume represents an effort to collect and analyze data on the complex problems of Romania's journey from sultanistic national communism to a yet-unreached democratic government ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Many problems
When communism collapsed in the Warsaw Pact, it did so most spectacularly in Romania. Out of this bloodshed stumbled a non-communist society. Deeply impoverished, and hung over from decades of dictatorship.

Corey presents a broad survey of Romania in the intervening years. The papers discuss many sweeping changes. Many involve politics, unsurprisingly. The struggle to establish a pluralistic multiparty democracy, against a backdrop of endemic corruption and cynical public apathy.

Other papers describe how the fall of communism has led to a resurgence of nationalism by the ethnic majority and various minorities. A pre World War 2 tension rising like swamp gas. The most notable case concerns the Transylvanian Hungarians. Another is the persistent discrimination of Gypsies. Cautious optimism is expressed by the authors. Largely because any entrance into the European Union will force Romania to address these inequities.

The book has merit as a comprehensive single volume synopsis of Romania that is up to date and does not gloss over the country's warts. ... Read more

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In 1949, Annie Samuelli and her sister were seized by the Communists in a mass arrest of Romanians working for US and British legations. After nearly 12 years in separate prisons, they were released into exile on payment by a relative in the United States. This is her story. ... Read more

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This book introduces students and the general public to the post-Stalinist phase of totalitarianism, focusing on Romania under the Ceausescu dictatorship, through the dual optic of scholarship and fiction, in a story about a family surviving difficult times under a totalitarian regime due to the strength of their love. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Beautiful
Like the cover this book was beautiful. The author does a good job of putting the reader into the room. Good job Claudia and keep up the good work.

Lovely Book!
This beautifully told story of a family's struggle to stay together is very moving. Interwoven with the narrative is an intrigue between a secret service operative for and a woman forced to trade her body in exchange for the welfare of those she loves. It's a complicated, beautiful story which sheds light on an oppressive regime. Before reading this book, I was totally unaware of the human rights oppression committed against the people of Romania. Throughthis lovely story of a family's struggle, I saw a daily life in all its joy and horror. Well written and extremely moving.

Vivid Portrayal
Claudia Moscovici creates a vivid portrayal of the lives of ordinary people living in totalitarian Romania.

Captivating novel
Claudia Moscovici's first novel treats the intersection of politics and family, transporting us deftly in time and space.Depth of knowledge--and experience--is felt on each page as conflict, struggle and spirit come alive through Moscovici's engaging prose.Highly recommended!

An enjoyable comic epic
Velvet Totalitarianism could be best described as a comic epic. This enjoyable novel tells the story of a family struggling to survive the repression of communist Romania during the Ceausescu regime.It has the ambitious range and tragic elements of an epic, while also being filled with touching anecdotes and humor: the laughter through tears kind that Eastern European writers are known for.This novel has it all. It's a story of survival that will move you, entertain you and inform you. ... Read more