A maverick in the making: Romania’s de-Satellization process and the Global Cold War (1953-1963)

This research project explores Romania’s process of detachment from Moscow from 1953 to 1963 within the context of the global Cold War. Through a multi-archival investigation, the dissertation investigates the first full process of peaceful de-satellization within the Eastern bloc by considering the broader framework of the bipolar international climate. In so doing, it provides both a bottom-up, as well as a top-down analysis. This project focuses, in particular, on the tenure of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (1947-65), Romania’s first Communist leader, as it was under his leadership that the country shifted from complete subservience to the Soviet Union to political and economic autonomy. In 1958, Romania negotiated a full troop withdrawal, remaining the only Warsaw Pact country without Soviet military presence until the fall of the Berlin Wall. And by 1963, it also dared to challenge Moscow’s plans for economic specialization within COMECON, thereby asserting its sovereign right to pursue national interest over the greater socialist good, and thus stymying the Kremlin’s initiative for an integrated bloc economy. This project provides an in-depth investigation into the reasons why Romania was able to boldly confront the Soviet Union without fear of retribution, by tracing the process through which Dej gradually removed Romania’s political straightjacket, and exploring those elements within the international climate which allowed him to negotiate Romania’s detachment

Hipocresía y normas de soberanía: un breve estudio sobre la políticade las superpotencias en sus esferas de influencia durante la Guerra Fría

Este artículo explora la relación entre las normas internacionales y el interés nacional a través de un análisis de estudios de caso, que nos proporciona una perspectiva histórica del concepto de soberanía. El análisis es enfocado hacia cuatro intervenciones militares llevadas a cabo por Estados Unidos y la Unión Soviética durante la Guerra Fría —cuando el régimen de soberanía consideraba este tipo de intervenciones ilegales e injustificables, salvo en casos de autodefensa o de seguridad colectiva—. Cada caso evalúa hasta qué punto las normas internacionales de soberanía restringieron la acción militar, examinando tanto las tácticas utilizadas, como las justificaciones ofrecidas para la intervención. El artículo concluye que ninguna de las dos superpotencias evitó interpretar las normas según sus propias nociones del interés nacional, produciendo en consecuencia la aparición de múltiples facetas del concepto de soberanía en cada estudio de caso

Hypocrisy and norms of sovereignty: A brief study on the policies of the superpowers in the spheres of influence during the Col War

Este artículo explora la relación entre las normas internacionales y el interés nacional a través de un análisis de estudios de caso, que nos proporciona una perspectiva histórica del concepto de soberanía. El análisis es enfocado hacia cuatro intervenciones militares llevadas a cabo por Estados Unidos y la Unión Soviética durante la Guerra Fría —cuando el régimen de soberanía consideraba este tipo de intervenciones ilegales e injustificables, salvo en casos de autodefensa o de seguridad colectiva—. Cada caso evalúa hasta qué punto las normas internacionales de soberanía restringieron la acción militar, examinando tanto las tácticas utilizadas, como las justificaciones ofrecidas para la intervención. El artículo concluye que ninguna de las dos superpotencias evitó interpretar las normas según sus propias nociones del interés nacional, produciendo en consecuencia la aparición de múltiples facetas del concepto de soberanía en cada estudio de casoThis article explores the relationship between international norms and national interest by analyzing it through case studies that provide a historical perspective on the concept of sovereignty. The analysis is focused on four military interventions carried out by the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War —when the sovereignty regime in place rendered such interventions both illegal and unjustified, save for cases of self-defense or collective security. Each case study evaluates the extent to which international norms on sovereignty served as constraints for the military action, by examining both the tactics used and the justifications offered for the intervention. The article concludes that both Cold War superpowers did not shy from slanting international norms in order to fit their notions of national interest, with multiple facets of the concept of sovereignty emerging from each case stud

European Summer School 2017 Best Paper Prize Winner: Courting the non-aligned: Romania, petro-diplomacy and the global Cold War

This article discusses Romania’s burgeoning development aid policy to the post-colonial space. By leveraging its expertise in petroleum extraction to forge a strategic relationship with India in the 1950s, Bucharest was able to gain a strategic foothold as oil assistance provider to the non-aligned countries. This text details Romania’s efforts to help build India’s national oil industry by bringing into focus the broad nexus of forces at play in such process. It therefore aims to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of ‘the Second World’s Third World’ by discussing the ideological and geopolitical considerations of both East-East and East-South relations