Constructing National Identity in Moldova

The Eurovision Song Contest provides a platform on the world's stage for countries to showcase talent and culture representative of the nation. Each performance is chosen for a reason and bears the responsibility of being a voice for their country--even silly, fun, catchy songs like Estonia's "Espresso Macchiato" provide some sort of insight to its nation. But what defines a nation? What does a country like Moldova want to be representing and highlighting as they take to performing for millions to watch worldwide? What does it mean to be part of a nation, and what does it look like to have a sense of belonging?

This blog post seeks to define Moldova's national identity through understanding the various ethnicities, languages, and histories that are present within the country. I will provide a definition of national identity as a whole, non-specific to Moldova, and how we can use this as a framework to analyze Moldova's sense of identity among citizens. I will then use sociologist Anna Triandafyllidou's concepts around national identity and "Othering" to discuss dynamics and tensions between groups both within the country, and groups that are external to the country.

Defining National Identity

In "Nation identity and the 'other'" by Anna Triandafyllidou, she references political scientist Walker Connor and sociologist Anthony Smith to form a definition of nationalism that I will be using to refer to throughout this post. They discern that nationalism is the psychological bond between a citizen and their nation that is established through shared history, culture, economy, and duties (Triandafyllidou, 1998). Through this definition of nationalism, national identity points to the sense of self an individual has in relation to their nation. 

Moldova's Identity Defining Characteristics

A key part of Moldova's national identity is the country's history, which has shaped what issues are highlighted within Moldovan politics today. Both Moldova's identity and tensions are rooted within its origins of being a former Soviet state. After declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the next decade was troubling for the country's citizens. Birth rates were declining, and by the turn of the century, eighty percent of the population was living in poverty (Korosteleva, 2010, pp. 1267-1268). In order to survive as a nation, Moldova heavily relied on Russia economically as most of its exports went to Russia, but in 1994 Moldova pivoted towards a European integration political agenda (p. 1268). This contextualizes a torn sense of nationhood that persists today, as some citizens hope for membership in the European Union and further alignment with Romania. On the other hand, citizens who reside in the northeastern breakaway region of the country called Transnistria have more alignment with Russia with Russian troops deployed in this area as well.

Moldova is a multi-ethnic state, with most of its population identifying as ethnically Moldovan, and minority populations being Romanian, Ukrainian, Gagauz, Russian, and Bulgarian. Since its independence, internal questions and tensions around a sense of identity have risen. In the subsequent years, Moldova had failed to unify with Romania and struggled to find distinctiveness between Moldovan identity and Romanian identity (Cash, 2007, p. 590). These varying identities have caused suspicions both internally within Moldova and Romania, and fostered suspicion of the two countries against each other. In a research study around how citizens of Moldova self-identify in ethnicity, there were a variety of responses that showed how nuanced people's relationships were with Moldovan and Romanian identity. For example, among the several identities, some people identified as ethnically Romanian but identified Moldova as their home, some identified as partially Romanian and Moldovan, and some feeling they were culturally and linguistically differing from Romanians and identified with Moldovan (Knott, 2015, p. 476). It's clear that within ethnic identity, there are a multitude of ways that citizens in Moldova feel connected to their nation.

Language within Moldova is another marker of identity. Within the process of nation building of Soviet states, a critical aspect of it was developing a national language. In his article "Thirty Years of Nation-Building in the Post Soviet States", researcher Peter Rutland discusses the significance of language across post-Soviet nations:

"In some respects, the Soviet experience provided a solid foundation for nation-building, and in others a barrier that had to be overcome. While trying to transcend nationalism through the creation of a “new Soviet man,” the Communist state also institutionalized ethnicity since it was a federation of ethnically-titled units, within which national languages and cultures were developed, and intellectual and political elites emerged." (Rutland, 2023, 15.)

Moldova's national language is Romanian, with Russian, Gagauz, and Bulgarian in the minority. Moldovan language and Romanian language are very similar, but with Romanian as the established and official language of the state, it deepens tensions surrounding the question of unification with Romania. In Transnistria, most of the population is Russian-speaking, which shows how these political issues are not merely politics, but run further into culture and language.

Internal and External "Othering" in Relation to Moldova

As previously mentioned, Anna Triandafyllidou (1998) introduces how the concepts of nation identity and the idea of "othering" are in direct relation to one another. A sense of belonging in a group is reliant on these "others" existing--for there to be an us, there must be a them. She distinguishes an "internal significant other" and an "external significant other" to discuss groups that are "perceived to pose a threat to the existence of the nation" (p. 600). An internal significant other points to groups that are within a country, while an external significant other is another separate nation. 

Within Moldova, an internal significant other would be the region of Transnistria that has been discussed throughout this blog post. As Moldova continues to move in the direction of European integration, Transnistria receives continued support from Russia and is an ethnic/linguistic minority in this nation. This region poses as a threat to the current political agenda as it is an autonomously functioning region with high Russian influence. This region is in linear connection with Moldova's external significant other: Russia. Transnistria has been seen as an area of interest for Russia strategically, and in 1992, "Some 2,600 troops from the Russian 14th Army were initially stationed there [...] with a substantial stockpile of Soviet weaponry" (Korosteleva, 2010, p. 1268). Although this was decades ago, Russia's influence on this region and on Moldova as a whole has been sustained, for example Russia had launched a $7.5 billion dollar crisis fund to support its economic partners, including Transnistria, in 2009 (p. 1276). This situation presents a very interesting dynamic, as the internal significant other acts as almost an extension of the external significant other.

Conclusion

As we explore Moldovan identity, we uncover how much history plays a role in understanding the current political issues that are present in this country and how it shapes aspects of national identity. It is evident that Moldovan national identity is complex with pluralistic identities in ethnicity and language. This deeper consideration of identity provides us a lens to examine how Moldova represents itself on the world stage.

References

Cash, J. R. (2007). Origins, memory, and identity: “villages” and the politics of nationalism in the Republic of Moldova. East European Politics and Societies: And Cultures, 21(4), 588–610. https://doi.org/10.1177/0888325407307351

Knott, E. (2015). Generating data. East European Politics and Societies: And Cultures, 29(2), 467–486. https://doi.org/10.1177/0888325415584047

Korosteleva, E. (2010). Moldova’s European choice: ‘between two stools’? Europe-Asia Studies, 62(8), 1267–1289. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2010.504383

Rutland, P. (2023). Thirty Years of nation-building in the Post-Soviet states. Nationalities Papers, 51(1), 14–32. https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2021.94

Triandafyllidou, A. (1998). National Identity and the “other.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21(4), 593–612. https://doi.org/10.1080/014198798329784

 Word count: 1179