“The struggle” remains the key word in the title of the second edition of the book “The Struggle for Good Governance in Eastern Europe” (see IPN) that is intended for English-speaking readers. This means the struggle continues and this is both good and bad. The editors see a positive element in the fact that the struggle for better democratic governance is full of life, in contrast to the authoritarian regimes, as those in Russia or Azerbaijan, where dissidence is suppressed. What is not rejoicing is the fact that those who want democratic governance to be improved meet with stiff resistance on the part of the opponents.
In this connection, IPN’s senior contributor Dionis Cenusa, co-author of the book, underlines his views right in the title of the chapter he signs – “Anemic democracy and prejudiced Europeanization of Moldova”. Noting the ups and downs of democracy in Moldova, the researcher refers to the quality of democracy and the rule of law, which were seriously undermined by the influence of oligarch Vladimir Pahotniuc, making everyone responsible for a huge bank fraud committed in 2014, as a result of which no person has been brought to justice yet.
Given that the work covers the period until the end of 2020, the author says “the idea of Europeanization in Moldova continues to be diluted by apparently interminable governmental instability that is powerfully shadowed by the geopolitical division between pro-European and pro-Russian tendencies.”
The Western reader learned that while Igor Dodon, holding office of President since 2016 until November 2020, became involved in an unmistakable anti-European propaganda, his successor Maia Sandu at the end of 2020 came with a more sophisticated and balanced approach. Furthermore, the mainly pro-European diaspora that settled in the EU entered the stage as a new significant transnational player, contributing to Maia Sandu’s electoral victory. The readers can also find out that the civil society organizations faced attempts to prevent them from working in 2019-2020, but they were supported by the EU in a concrete way by financial assistance, making the government to concede...”
