The nostalgia for the late Soviet Union is close to fading away in the Republic of Moldova, while the desideratum of coming closer to the European Union, which was confirmed by the obtaining of the candidate status, becomes the main objective of the country, doctor of philosophy and habilitated doctor of law Rodica Ciobanu stated in a public debate hosted by IPN News Agency. According to her, the cultivation of the civic consciousness of citizens and development of political culture are key priorities in the Republic of Moldova.
According to experts who took part in the debate, there are no preconditions for restoring the Soviet Union even if the late entity is still used by Russian political players to achieve expansionist objectives. This is also confirmed by Russia’s aggression war against Ukraine.
“From theoretical viewpoint, the period of the Soviet Union was a time of absolute humanism. And it was a context in which it was asserted that the people could have lived fully free with benefits, including material ones, and everyone would have reached a stage when they would have had everything. This was the benchmark for each citizen of the former Soviet Union. After the Soviet Union dismembered, we had an economic collapse in different areas and the people were unable to cope with the change. As totalitarianism denied the human rights, the people later reached a state when they could not enjoy these rights that were enshrined in the Constitution,” stated Rodica Ciobanu.
According to her, it seems that the Republic of Moldova discovered its identity and the objective of coming closer to the EU became the major one for the political class and society.
“We set the task we need to fulfill as a country. The instruments we will use to achieve this objective matter. Among them is honest, correct public communication between the government and the citizens. Joint involvement in this responsible assumption should be ensured by transparency and participation. The permanent assessment of the impact through the angle of those who do reforms and of society should be an instrument for testing the preliminary results, the efficiency of particular state policies,” said Rodica Ciobanu.
She noted that to successfully achieve the European integration objective, the political culture and civic spirit of citizens should be developed. Moreover, the nostalgia for the former Soviet Union is close to disappearing in Moldova as this subject does not hold any interest for the new generations.
“The largest part of the young population who could have contributed to a change in the Republic of Moldova went abroad. Now, according to polls, we have young people who are not seriously concerned about the country’s problems and persons who lived in the Soviet space and who are at an age at which they cannot change too much and do not even want this as they are preoccupied with how to live their old age. That’s why I’m inclined to believe that the nostalgia for the Soviet Union is close to fading away. We need to cultivate the civic spirit, the responsibilities, consciousness and political culture of the people,” stated the doctor of philosophy.
The debate entitled “100 years of USSR and 31 years without USSR: Nostalgia for Chimeras. Sources, ways of promotion and effects of nostalgia” was the 258th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
