Press-Release
on the organization of the debate “Geopolitical genes of Moldovans: between myth and reality”. Developing Political Culture through Public Debates”. Public debates series held by the news agency IPN in its conference room with the support of the German Foundation “Hanns Seidel”
Held on 14 June 2017, Debate 73 brought together Socialist MP Vlad Batrîncea; Viorel Cibotaru, president of the Liberal Democratic Party; Psy.D Irina Caunenco, Institute of Cultural Heritage/Moldovan Academy of Sciences; and political communication expert Angela Colaţchi, Department of Political Sciences/Moldova State University.
The debate’s headline is rather a figure of speech, because obviously Moldovans don’t have any geopolitical strains within their genetic makeup. However, ever since independence, virtually the entire political establishment in Moldova has heavily exploited, and even stimulated geopolitical sympathies and antipathies held by the general public, and as a rule this has revolved around the East-West dichotomy. And this means that, while not ingrained at a genetic level, geopolitical issues have played an important role in shaping Moldovans’ views, interests, traits and cultural preferences. Speaking in economic terms, this creates demand for geopolitical messages, and this gives politicians the opportunity to provide different, often contradictory, offerings of this type of commodity.
While this may be a perfectly legitimate activity for politicians to engage in, the downside is that often geopolitical narratives deepen the divide within Moldovans, who are even without that divided along linguistic, cultural, political and other lines. While previously geopolitical rivalries manifested mostly during campaign seasons, now this seems to be a permanent, alarming state. Moreover, it seems that geopolitical polarization is getting increasingly intense, peaking maybe, which poses threats to the peace and well-being of our society.
Our selection of speakers for this debate was meant to discuss and explain why this happens: why do politicians offer people often deeply conflicting geopolitical narratives and why do people buy them? The perspective of politicians was represented by MP Vlad Batrîncea and MP Viorel Cibotaru, and the scientific perspective of social psychology and political communication was represented by the scholars Irina Cuanenco and Angela Colaţchi. To facilitate the discussion, we invited Nina Ivanov and Natalia Caunova, of the Institute of Cultural Heritage. During the debate, they also asked questions and made clarifications based on the public interest principle.
In particular, the standing expert of IPN’s project Igor Botan said the fact that the geopolitical impact in the Republic of Moldova persists cannot be ignored and this is normal because, when we speak about geopolitics, we mean a discipline that takes into consideration the geographical position for solving problems related to the socioeconomic development and ensuring of security. The Republic of Moldova, being a small country, looks like a small island that oscillates between two tectonic plates – the European and the Eurasian one. But it can be easily smashed if it does not try to join one plate or another. “The citizens have healthy instincts because they want things in our country to go on and thus oscillate,” stated the expert.
Igor Botan noted that during their eight-year government, the Communists promised they will integrate the country into the Russia-Belarus Union, but did very important things for coming closer to the European Union. “In the end, after eight years of government, the so-called pro-Europeans came to power and these disappointed the people. Figures show that when the Communists governed, 75% of the citizens were in favor of the European integration. The situation has yet changed radically after eight years of government by pro-Europeans and these are the results of the government and they cannot shift the blame on the people who want to ensure normal development for their families and the country,” he said.
Igor Botan also said that the Republic of Moldova cannot get rid of the “geopolitical genes” and the compromise in this regard was reached 15 years ago, in 2002, and a repeat of the scenario was witnessed eight years ago, when the Republic of Moldova found itself again between the two tectonic plates, benefiting from free trade agreements with the EU and the CIS. “A competent government was needed to use the geopolitical advantages, but things were thwarted,” stated the expert.
Socialist MP Vlad Batrancea said that after World War II geopolitics turned into a practically political discipline that represents a kind of political balancing between the great powers of the world and an instrument by which major interests are achieved. As to the intersection between the East and the West, this should be regarded from the angle of the Eurasian and Euro-Atlantic plates, not only of the European one. A series of more insistent Atlantic integrationist processes have been witnessed because the Europeans have a more intelligent approach. The MP referred to NATO, noting that someone tries to take Moldova, which is a peaceful and neutral country at the intersection of big civilizations and has to adopt a delicate approach, into a particular direction.
“Indeed, there are these two big policies in society, which, regrettably, do not have purely national roots and often do not reflect the national, economic and political interests of the Republic of Moldova, but represent broader international formulas. Moldova’s involvement in a formula imposed from outside often determines the internal political processes,” stated Vlad Batrancea. According to him, when someone is trying to use information technologies and censorship and to intervene in neutrality, society divides into two. Moldova should keep its neutrality and should serve as a bridge between two civilizations and should not allow someone to impose a geopolitical agenda.
Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party Viorel Cibotaru said that as science, geopolitics today is less professed and is associated more with such terms as populism, political parties that go through a crisis, manipulation of the public opinion by information placed in a wrong context and others. Currently, the preoccupations of the parties are focused not on the formulation of solutions to pressing problems, but rather on geopolitical terms.
Viorel Cibotaru also said that the voters, either of the right or of the left, concentrate on local problems. But the elites are trying to solve these problems in a geopolitical context. Ideally, there should be used methods free from such notions as course to the West and course to the East so as to come closer to the reality and avoid manipulation and populism.
Irina Caunenco, doctor of psychology at the Cultural Heritage Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, said that when society shows interest, the specialists try to understand what generates and fuels this interest. The people have a vital necessity to shape a stable picture of life, but this is practically impossible owing to the psycho-social context related to instability, variations and difficulties in Moldova and the whole ex-Soviet area. In this meaning, geopolitics is a powerful resource that helps to understand the current situation.
The doctor of psychology said the persons still need to assert themselves as agents of action. They often say the people are manipulated, but this is due to the fact that political competition grows at an accelerated pace, while the people’s conscience changes slowly. Labor migration is another factor. Moldova is now an active donor in this regard. The people analyze the relations of Moldova with countries from the East or the West in practical terms. The people are also looking for a model of equity and this also causes interest in geopolitics.
Angela Kolatski, lecturer at the Department of Political and Administrative Sciences of the State University of Moldova, said that in parts there is no communication between the three subjects – promoters of the orientation to the East and promoters of the orientation to the West, between them, and with society. “Currently, we are witnesses to inefficient communication and, unfortunately, it seems that there are several parallel worlds,” stated the lecturer. According to her, there is a myth that this division between the East and the West is recent, but the Roman Empire was actually divided into the Eastern part and the Western part and our ancestors were at the limit of the two. There cannot be geopolitical genes, but the collective mentality of the Moldovans of the 21st century embodies features of the national character inherited from people who coexisted here during centuries.
Angela Kolatski said two worlds meet in the Republic of Moldova – the Western one and the Asian one – and these both exist in any Moldovan. “When we ask ourselves why reforms are done so slowly, we should take into account the existence of the two worlds. The Western world says: “we exist, because I exist”, while the Eastern mentality says: “I exist because we exist”. The difference resides in who is placed in the forefront – the personality with its interests, when the community conforms, or the personality with its interests is ranked second. In the Republic of Moldova, Western mentality is based on the value of private property from which the other values derive, such as human rights and freedom of expression. If the private property is not a value for the people, the things related to rights are not vital. We are now a society in transition – from a society that wasn’t founded based on property to a society that depends on the human factor. Therefore, the process is long-lasting,” stated the lecturer.
The Agency published 6 news stories on the debate (see the English version of www.ipn.md): on 14.06.17, “Geopolitical genes of Moldovans: between myth and reality, IPN debate” - http://www.ipn.md/en/integrare-europeana/84482; “Viorel Cibotaru: So-called geopolitical slogans are used in a demagogical way” - http://www.ipn.md/en/integrare-europeana/84484; “Igor Botan: Moldova oscillates geopolitically out of economic development and security needs” - http://www.ipn.md/en/integrare-europeana/84485; on 15.06.17: “Irina Caunenco: Geopolitics is a powerful resource that helps to understand current situation” - http://www.ipn.md/en/integrare-europeana/84487; “Angela Kolatski: There is inefficient communication between subjects with geopolitical impact” - http://www.ipn.md/en/integrare-europeana/84489; “Vlad Batrancea: Moldova is not a geopolitical player” - http://www.ipn.md/en/integrare-europeana/84490.
Confirmatory materials of deliverables are attached.
Valeriu Vasilica, director of IPN