Romanian Government Relations – The Orthodox Church in Shaping the Official State Identity Policy After 1989

Relacje rządu rumuńskiego i Cerkwi prawosławnej po II wojnie światowej zmieniały się kilkakrotnie wraz ze zmianą polityki partii i roli Cerkwi w socjalistycznej Rumunii. Po prześladowaniach i aresztowaniach duchownych w latach 60. Cerkiew stała się użytecznym narzędziem w propagowaniu rumuńskości Siedmiogrodu i Banatu, lojalnym sojusznikiem władz komunistycznych. Po rewolucji rumuńskiej (1989) jej rola w kształtowaniu przynależności i tożsamości narodowej w oficjalnej polityce rządu wzrosła. Celem podjętych badań i przeprowadzonej analizy jest próba wskazania dynamiki zmian powołań duchownych i struktur administracyjnych w rumuńskim Kościele prawosławnym oraz ocena roli, jaką odgrywa relacja rząd–Cerkiew w kształtowaniu oficjalnej polityki tożsamościowej państwa, a także tożsamości narodowej w okresie po rewolucji. W pracy wykorzystano dane statystyczne prezentujące zmiany w Cerkwi rumuńskiej oraz raport „Wierzenia religijne i przynależność narodowa w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej” opracowany przez Pew Research Center na podstawie przeprowadzonych w latach 2015–2016 badań ankietowych.Relations between the Romanian government and the Orthodox Church after World War II changed several times with the change of the party’s policy and role of the church in socialist Romania. After the persecution and arrests of clergy in the 1960s, the church became a useful tool in promoting Romanianism in Transylvania and Banat, a loyal ally of the communist authorities. After the Romanian revolution (1989), its role in shaping national belonging and national identity in the official one government policy has increased. The aim of the research and analysis carried out is an attempt to indicate the dynamics of changes in clergy vocations and administrative structures in the Romanian Orthodox Church and to assess the role played by the government-Church relationship in shaping the official identity policy of the state, as well as national identity in the post-revolution period. The work uses statistical data presenting changes in the Romanian Church and the report “Religious beliefs and nationality in Central and Eastern Europe” developed by the Pew Research Center based on surveys carried out in 2015–2016

Transport Infrastructure and Political Factors as Determinants of Tourism Development in the Cross-Border Region of Bihor and Maramureş. A Comparative Analysis

This article follows two important interconnected aspects. On one hand, it investigates whether the political factors represented by the presence of ethnic minorities can be a catalyst for tourism development in cross-border regions, in addition to the development of transport infrastructure. On the other hand, it offers a comparative analysis and territorial diagnosis of the Bihor-Hajdú–Bihar and Maramureş–Zakarpattya cross border regions, analyzing the main tourist indicators and the advances made in the development of the transport infrastructure with a role in the development of tourism. The paper is based on desk and quantitative research involving national and regional statistic data. Research on the literature regarding Hungarian–Romanian and Romanian–Ukrainian borderland was also realized, in order to conduct comparative analysis useful to identify and evaluate the factors linked with tourism development. Using a multiscale approach, the objective is to determine if there is a correlation between the development of the transport network and the increase in tourist traffic. The results show that transport infrastructure plays a critical role in ensuring the connections of border regions. Although the two regions are contiguous, there is an obvious difference in cross-border traffic due to the presence of two different types of border. The transport network and tourism situation in Bihor has improved in the last years, especially under the impact of cross-border cooperation, but the accessibility remains relatively low. In Maramureş, the development of cross-border connections is based on cultural exchange, and less on economic relations. Transport accessibility is a strong point of the Hungarian–Romanian borderland and represents an obstacle for the development of tourism in the Romanian–Ukrainian borderland