“This is the big problem in Romania”

In recent years, the wars waged by political parties in Europe have brought the label of “extremism” into the public space, generally attached to contested formations in government. About this phenomenon, but also about how it will relate to the new power at the White House, Ziare.com talked with Dan Dungaciu, sociologist, expert in geopolitics and university professor.

In the opinion of the sociologist, in the public space the idea of ​​the existence of extremist parties is wrongly created, therefore of a major, “anti-democratic” danger.

“This etiquette (no – ‘extremist’ parties) is the deep crisis of European politics, not only of Romanian politics. We feel that in extreme postmodernism, if we change the words, the reality changes accordingly. Unfortunately, reality does not change when we change the words with which we operate on reality.

The idea of ​​an extremist party is rather, at least at the moment, an ideological label, that is, used in political struggle and that’s it. There are two types of parties: parties that operate legally, in the political field of a state, and parties that do not operate legally, so they are illegal in the legal-political field of a state, so they must be removed from the competition. All parties operating in a state, once they have received a final court decision, are legal parties. This is the only real classification”, commented Professor Dungaciu.

Hungary and Poland, states where “sovereignist” parties generated the main public policies

In countries like Hungary and Poland, “protest” parties, labeled by their opponents as “extremists”, are at the top of the population’s options, because they have come to power, over time, warns the sociologist.

“The phenomenon of these protest parties escapes us. We cannot define it, and in Romania, this crisis is stronger than in other countries, such as Hungary or Poland. In these two states, before us, a type of population reaction appeared, which was discharged into protest parties, such as Fidesz and Justice and Justice (PiS). They are parties that have managed to become mainstream, so they have managed to allow the discharge of such kinds of feelings and moods in a mainstream direction, acceptable both internally and externally. Fidesz left the EPP group (no – joined the Patriots for Europe group), ended up being called ‘extremist’, but Fidesz, led by Viktor Orban, was a mainstream party for decades on end. The fact that his status has changed is explained by the fact that he is no longer part of a certain established European political family. However, it was accepted as a mainstream party for a long time.

These parties, especially in Hungary, are flanked by Jobbik-type parties, radical parties, which are at the end of the political spectrum, but Fidesz and PiS are not like that. The chance of these states is that no matter how the state of mind of society changes, this ‘sovereignist’ tendency has a place to be discharged in an accepted and acceptable mainstream channel both internally and externally”, Dungaciu also stated.

“When you have 30-40% so-called extremist parties, it means that there is a problem, not only with etiquette, but with the way you configure the political space”

“Sovereignist” parties have grown strongly in Romania in recent years, and Romania’s great challenge is to break the barrier between them and the rest, in order to generate public policies beneficial to society.

“The big problem of Romania is that those who have configured the political space in the last decades have simply blocked any channel of communication for the manifestation of these states of mind. And these states of mind, when they manifest themselves, do so through a priori illegitimate channels, i.e. ‘extremist’. And in society, when you have 30-40% so-called extremist parties, it means that there is a problem, not only with etiquette, but with the way you configure the political space.

The biggest challenge for Romania, from this point of view, precisely in order to save itself as a normal country or to avoid being crushed by this type of approach, is to open its public space, its political space, to help configure a party like Justice and Justice (PiS – Poland) or Fidesz (Hungary) in Romania”, said Dan Dungaciu.

“Romania, in order to stop being an improvisation, must rethink its public, political, discursive space”

With the coming to power of Donald Trump, Romania will have to adapt to the phenomenon called “trumpism”, associated to a certain extent with “sovereignism”, in order to remain engaged in the present.

“It’s about ‘domesticating’ Trumpism, making Trumpism an acceptable trend in the Romanian space, a mainstream political trend. If Romania does this, it leaves to the extreme a party, a grouping of parties or a state of mind of only 10% which is probably natural in any society, especially in Eastern Europe. 10% is something else, compared to 30-40%.

I say ‘trumpism’, not ‘sovereignism’, because that too has become an unacceptable and unusable word. This is Romania’s political and public stake, that is where Romania must go, in order to normalize itself. It must start from the assumption that such a state of mind exists, that it is not illegitimate, but that the attempt to throw it to extremes is illegitimate. It must be civilized, brought into the public space, discussed, assumed. This is, in fact, the solution for balancing Romania. Now, from this point of view, Romania is improvisation, which does not work and needs to be balanced.

Romania, in order to stop being an improvisation, must rethink its public, political, discursive space, in such a way that this terribly high percentage, of 30-40% of so-called extreme parties, can be pushed somewhere to 10%, to be able to dialogue within the other 80-90% percentages. This is the big problem in Romania. The issue of electoral code and labels is only the tip of the iceberg of this deep crisis, which people in the public space who are intelligent and capable enough must address. This is Romania’s burning problem, all the more so as we think about the future of this world in the shadow of Donald Trump”, concluded Professor Dungaciu, for Ziare.com.