The Nation of the Westernizers: Mainstream and Minority Varieties of Romanian Liberalism

Abstract

The article broadens a typological approach to the history of Romanian ideological development centered upon an approach of the same kind taken to the evolution of ideological liberalism in the pre-communist period. Focusing on the period 1900-1940 and on three periodicals of the time, it delineates two minority liberal discourses, alongside the mainstream one of modernizing liberalism with a strong statist and nationalist commitment, best incarnated historically in the practices of the National Liberal Party and having counterparts in all East European countries. The local typology thus disclosed is then related to the world-wide evolution of the main trends of liberalism over the long run. The study underlines that the existing comparative bibliography does not offer an appropriate understanding of the varieties of liberal theory and experience within the region. The article is intended to start filling this gap of the available literature.