Hundreds of thousands of Romanians cheered President Bush as he welcomed us into NATO, and we meant it. Just like we meant it when we cheered Nicolae Ceausescu - both when he spoke and when he was executed. We are good at cheering. What we are not good at is understanding what we are cheering for. Our new NATO membership sounds great, but we really don't know why.
In 1998, Radu Vasile, then Romania's Prime Minister, visited Israel. Vasile expressed interest in purchasing Israeli military helicopters. Israel's President Ezer Weizmann, a former pilot, responded: "You must have serious enemies if you need these helicopters. Who are they?" "Not at all," Vasile answered, "we're at peace with our neighbours...our frontiers are secure. But we need up-to-date aircraft ... to join NATO.' "So," Weizmann said, "you don't have any enemies after all! But don't worry: NATO will find enemies for you!"
Most Romanians see NATO membership as a huge national victory, but some wonder if there is truth in Weizmann's joke: because, if the rationale for entering a military alliance is that you feel threatened, entering NATO is nonsense. For the first time in its troubled history, Romania has nothing to fear from its neighbours. Russia, "the hereditary enemy," now seems far away and consumed by its domestic troubles. Hungary, the other "hereditary enemy," is a fellow NATO ally; relations with Ukraine are nasty, but peaceful. Bulgaria is too small to matter; and Yugoslavia's wars are over.
Even so, the country must now, year after year, increase its military expenses so that it can begin to approximate NATO standards. That will be a hard thing to do for an economy whose recent economic growth, though real, remains shaky. Unlike joining the EU, which can provide important development funds, joining NATO means only sacrifice. Given our poverty, spending more money on military equipment seems irresponsible.
Although 73% of Romanians approve of entering NATO, less than 20% agree with Romanian participation in a war against Iraq. No matter how inconsistent such attitudes appear to be, they remain widespread and cannot be overlooked, because they suggest that people here conceive of NATO as a protective umbrella, not something to which they must contribute.
Romania's security problems are not external, but internal, for the enemies of Romania establishing a stable, democratic-liberal government are the Romanian people themselves. Democracy here is a reality, but a delicate one. Too many dictatorships have accustomed Romanians with habits of obedience, conformity and irresponsibility. The ruling PSD (Social Democrat) government is efficient, but has a worrying record of corruption, non-transparency, and of using its power to influence judicial decisions. The second largest party - Greater Romania Party - is a half-fascist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic party, whose leader - a populist radical - received 22% of the vote in last year's elections.
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How can NATO help with this? Directly, it can do nothing; indirectly, it can do a lot. NATO is no longer only a military alliance. Instead, it is now a military-political alliance that sets democratic standards for new members and aspirants.
No Romanian government can neglect these standards. Such openly thuggish rulers as Kuchma of Ukraine or Lukashenka of Belarus, are almost impossible to imagine in Romania nowadays. Moreover, joining NATO means subsuming Romania's military and intelligence services under NATO command (i.e. American) control, thus any attempt at staging a coup, or stirring up trouble between Romanians and our sizeable Hungarian minority, can be prevented.
The more tightly bound to the democratic world a country like Romania is, the less likely it is to experience dramatic social or political unrest or to eviscerate its democratic system. NATO fixes hard limits on the autonomy of local political elites to do what they want. Of course, NATO cannot safeguard democracy alone and it is no panacea for our many social and political illnesses; yet it can act (and has already done so during the process of admission) as an incentive for governments and parties to behave responsibly and to abide by the rule of law.
This is vital because, in the past, when Romania's political elites enjoyed too much autonomy or real national sovereignty, they abused it. Ceausescu's rule demonstrates this. The "room to maneuver" he carved from the Warsaw Pact with the support of the West brought no benefits to the Romanian people. It only increased the opportunity for Ceausescu's clan and cronies to act arbitrarily, making the lives of most citizens hell. Comparatively, the Hungarians, the Polish and the Bulgarians, whose governments were much more dependent on the Soviets, were better off.
So, it is not joining NATO the military alliance that will benefit Romania. What matters is Romania's integration into a strong international organisation, which will curb its sovereignty. Entering NATO marks a formal acknowledgement that Romania (or Bulgaria, or Hungary, or Poland for that matter) is surrendering its claims to unlimited sovereignty, and to all the dreams of grandeur that go with it. In the past, those dreams brought only underdevelopment, dictatorship, nationalism and untold amounts of suffering. Killing that dream will prevent us from reliving our political nightmares.
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Hundreds of thousands of Romanians cheered President Bush as he welcomed us into NATO, and we meant it. Just like we meant it when we cheered Nicolae Ceausescu - both when he spoke and when he was executed. We are good at cheering. What we are not good at is understanding what we are cheering for. Our new NATO membership sounds great, but we really don't know why.
In 1998, Radu Vasile, then Romania's Prime Minister, visited Israel. Vasile expressed interest in purchasing Israeli military helicopters. Israel's President Ezer Weizmann, a former pilot, responded: "You must have serious enemies if you need these helicopters. Who are they?" "Not at all," Vasile answered, "we're at peace with our neighbours...our frontiers are secure. But we need up-to-date aircraft ... to join NATO.' "So," Weizmann said, "you don't have any enemies after all! But don't worry: NATO will find enemies for you!"
Most Romanians see NATO membership as a huge national victory, but some wonder if there is truth in Weizmann's joke: because, if the rationale for entering a military alliance is that you feel threatened, entering NATO is nonsense. For the first time in its troubled history, Romania has nothing to fear from its neighbours. Russia, "the hereditary enemy," now seems far away and consumed by its domestic troubles. Hungary, the other "hereditary enemy," is a fellow NATO ally; relations with Ukraine are nasty, but peaceful. Bulgaria is too small to matter; and Yugoslavia's wars are over.
Even so, the country must now, year after year, increase its military expenses so that it can begin to approximate NATO standards. That will be a hard thing to do for an economy whose recent economic growth, though real, remains shaky. Unlike joining the EU, which can provide important development funds, joining NATO means only sacrifice. Given our poverty, spending more money on military equipment seems irresponsible.
Although 73% of Romanians approve of entering NATO, less than 20% agree with Romanian participation in a war against Iraq. No matter how inconsistent such attitudes appear to be, they remain widespread and cannot be overlooked, because they suggest that people here conceive of NATO as a protective umbrella, not something to which they must contribute.
Romania's security problems are not external, but internal, for the enemies of Romania establishing a stable, democratic-liberal government are the Romanian people themselves. Democracy here is a reality, but a delicate one. Too many dictatorships have accustomed Romanians with habits of obedience, conformity and irresponsibility. The ruling PSD (Social Democrat) government is efficient, but has a worrying record of corruption, non-transparency, and of using its power to influence judicial decisions. The second largest party - Greater Romania Party - is a half-fascist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic party, whose leader - a populist radical - received 22% of the vote in last year's elections.
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At a time when democracy is under threat, there is an urgent need for incisive, informed analysis of the issues and questions driving the news – just what PS has always provided. Subscribe now and save $50 on a new subscription.
Subscribe Now
How can NATO help with this? Directly, it can do nothing; indirectly, it can do a lot. NATO is no longer only a military alliance. Instead, it is now a military-political alliance that sets democratic standards for new members and aspirants.
No Romanian government can neglect these standards. Such openly thuggish rulers as Kuchma of Ukraine or Lukashenka of Belarus, are almost impossible to imagine in Romania nowadays. Moreover, joining NATO means subsuming Romania's military and intelligence services under NATO command (i.e. American) control, thus any attempt at staging a coup, or stirring up trouble between Romanians and our sizeable Hungarian minority, can be prevented.
The more tightly bound to the democratic world a country like Romania is, the less likely it is to experience dramatic social or political unrest or to eviscerate its democratic system. NATO fixes hard limits on the autonomy of local political elites to do what they want. Of course, NATO cannot safeguard democracy alone and it is no panacea for our many social and political illnesses; yet it can act (and has already done so during the process of admission) as an incentive for governments and parties to behave responsibly and to abide by the rule of law.
This is vital because, in the past, when Romania's political elites enjoyed too much autonomy or real national sovereignty, they abused it. Ceausescu's rule demonstrates this. The "room to maneuver" he carved from the Warsaw Pact with the support of the West brought no benefits to the Romanian people. It only increased the opportunity for Ceausescu's clan and cronies to act arbitrarily, making the lives of most citizens hell. Comparatively, the Hungarians, the Polish and the Bulgarians, whose governments were much more dependent on the Soviets, were better off.
So, it is not joining NATO the military alliance that will benefit Romania. What matters is Romania's integration into a strong international organisation, which will curb its sovereignty. Entering NATO marks a formal acknowledgement that Romania (or Bulgaria, or Hungary, or Poland for that matter) is surrendering its claims to unlimited sovereignty, and to all the dreams of grandeur that go with it. In the past, those dreams brought only underdevelopment, dictatorship, nationalism and untold amounts of suffering. Killing that dream will prevent us from reliving our political nightmares.