The Brand of Democracy

The Brand of Democracy

After 1989 the Romanian Revolution which led to the end of the communist era, in Romania, the hope and need of progress and human flourish was felt. Romanians had to learn all over again the way towards democracy and liberty. Romania had to cooperate with the other States, to reinforce the democratic values and the values of human rights, to fight against the terrorism and for the stabilization of the region, to develop the economy and to participate to the strategic process of the transformation of the army (the military strategic transformation of the Alliance). It had to be understood that Romania could flourish and prosper in the current international political, economic and cultural realities only if it would cooperate with the Western countries which had a long democratic tradition as well as a long experience in the field of cooperation between countries and nations. One point of view from which we could start our arguments is that: in order to attain the prosperity, progress and human flourish a former totalitarian country needs to base its ascendance on democracy, freedom and cooperation. A new wave of ideas was brought to the attention of the Romanian leaders after 2000 when some international specialists in the Country Branding proposed to Romania a Country Branding program. This program would have ensured a better international image and also would have proven internationally that progresses is and will be made towards the democracy and the western values but also from the economical point of view. The originality of the following arguments consists in approaching this theme from the image point of view: the brand of democracy and its relation to the prosperity, progress and human flourish.

Raymond Duncan Gastil in „The Comparative Survey on Freedom: Experiences and Suggestions” explains which are the measurable elements to obtain the degree of freedom and democracy in different countries. Two indicators allow the measurement of these values: the political rights and the civilian freedom. Thanks to Gastil’s studies we have a starting point in the analysis of the Brand of Democracy. It opens the way of the study between the brand mechanisms and those of the political democracy. But it is essential to talk about these two elements because the progress of the societies as they are today is due to these two elements: the democracy and the brand; and these factors lead to prosperity, progress and human flourish.

Raymond Duncan Gastil was preoccupied with the intuitive system which evaluated the levels of freedom and democracy, as they are described by the political rights and the civilian freedom in the tradition of the Western countries. The study was made on the period 1975-1989 for different countries, but the answers are still interesting as a guidance line of the future studies. According to Gastil the freedom has always been understood in comparison with the democracy. There are systems with limited freedom and systems which offer a lot of freedom in order to be democratic. „ The party system is inefficient and the lack of party discipline means that the majority of senators and representatives cannot be asked to answer in front of the electorate for the success or the failure of the successive governs. [...] The poor societies which have two classes separated by a large difference have a weaker democratic performance.”[1]

The political rights are concentrated around the designation/election of the representatives: free and correct elections, political campaign, and the distribution of power, more than one political party confronting themselves in the campaign, the negative votes, and the right to auto determination, decentralized power and consensus. Among the civilian liberties Gastil includes the freedom of the media and of the literature from censorship, public debate, the freedom to gather and to manifest, the freedom of the political organizations, the rule of law, the free state, the freedom of economic activities, the freedom of the religious institutions, the private organizations, the personal freedom (property, travel, family, marriage), the freedom of socio-economic inequalities and the freedom against the political indifference and the corruption. These elements are opposed to the systems without popular process as the inherited monarchies and the totalitarian regimes as the communist one as it happened in Romania till 1989. The choice of designating a political representative and the choice in general is a factor which leads to prosperity, progress and human flourish. Gastil insists on the political elections in order to point out their role in the constitution and maintenance of democracy. These elements are accessible and allow the evaluation of the democratic character of the state. The measurement of the democratic rights can also be helped by counting the negative votes. The majority of the democracies are homogenous. The federal democracies have elaborated methods to separate the divisions of the state in order to be able to govern themselves. The problem of the centralization was that the political boundaries continue to make the citizens feel like strangers in their own country. The auto determination was strictly related to the way in which the political power was decentralized. An interesting point is how the political decision-making depends or not on the majority and if the consensus between all groups is sought when major problems of public interest are debated. “A democracy should be more than a society based on winners and losers. […] The informal distribution of power has a particular importance in order to judge the degree of success of the democracy of political parties which is based on the legitimacy and the will to attain a national consensus”[2].

Even if Gastil’s analysis was made on a different period, the theoretical elements of his thesis are still useful for the analysis of the relation between freedom, democracy and the brand.

The Brand of Democracy can be interpreted in more than one way. The democracy can be a brand because the democracy is wanted and promoted, it has a theory and there are strategies issued from this theory in order to transform a state into a democracy. A second interpretation can be that the democracy gives to the public the possibility to be creative. The brand of democracy can be analyzed according to the relation between the commercial brands and the way the political democracy works. This parallel shows in fact the factors that lead to prosperity, progress and human flourish, from both the political and marketing point of view.

Democracy as we said before is about freedom in general but also freedom of choice. The citizens of a democratic state have the choice. They have access to a large number of possibilities, the freedom to chose and change their minds in all the aspects of their lives as consumers of anything ( services or products), this is what makes them prosper, progress and flourish as human beings and as individuals members of a group. All this is possible because of the freedom of choice and of its results (in both ways of the comparison). Everyone goes to vote at the elections as everyone chooses a brand or another, supports or not a brand, is loyal or not to a brand. The results of our choices may come immediately (where the brand is concerned), later or never (in politics). Giving to the public the creative power, in the sense of giving them the power of expressing oneself and the right to chose is one of the major roles of the brand which works due to the communication between the brand and the client and vice versa. The brands work, can be developed and survive only in countries where they can find enough freedom; the freedom to create, to chose, to be in competition most likely to be found in democratic countries. The brands need a free market economy and to be able to share the wealth in order to sustain the development of the prosperity and the work places. The brands have appeared when the economy developed and the people’s possibility to learn, work and earn money in free countries, where the need of choice and competition came naturally. The history of the brands allows us to understand how they were able to touch the public’s emotions and desires. The messages of the brands introduced the public, since the beginning, into an ideal world, a better world, as the democracy did. The brands transmitted messages about well being, progress, and happiness and in general about the future and what could be. These all could be possible only if the consumers could financially afford the products and services or if these products or services where accessible (in the communist Era there was no choice because the international brands were not accessible). The brands are younger than we may think. As the specialists in this field state, in the States the brands are almost one hundred years old but in Europe they have almost fifty years old while in some countries they are just an ideal. The brands are the proof of the economic progress.

For many people nowadays the brands represent the freedom of choice of products and services of a better quality and the choice of a better quality of life. In the mature economies the brands answer to the social the psychological and spiritual needs of our lives. And the sensitive way of answering to these needs creates the evolution of desires and aspirations of the public. These desires are a part of the complex dream of prosperity, progress and human flourish. In the brand democracy the consumers vote when choosing a brand, when they buy products every day. There is a two ways relation between the consumers and the brands. Their communication and mutual trust are imperative.

The Brand designers have to be in a permanent relation with the clients, they need to prove the quality of their services and their long lasting motivation in order to last on the market. If the Brand is directly related to the democracy and to freedom, then there also must be an ethical contract between brands and clients, based on respect and vision and quality principles which are based on the values and principles that the people appreciate and value the most. The Brands are also a promise of the prosperity and progress of the consumer’s life.

Some brand experts[3] consider that the brands are more democratic than the formal democratic institutions including the elections and the government. If a consumer is not willing to purchase a brand because that consumer doesn’t like it anymore, he or she is making a statement, a choice visible at that moment. The people, who vote for a candidate, lose their power of choice until the next elections and also the power to influence the present of the politics. We can also say that there is no control on the future of the promises that the politician make during their campaign. No one can know for sure that those promises are going to be kept. Meanwhile the brand needs to keep its promises in order to survive and to grow. Both the client’s vote and the profit are a kind of return of investment because the existence and the prosperity of the brand are related to the consumer’s vote (as a source of profit). The profit is generated by the client’s satisfaction. The affective and value capital produce profit if the promises are kept. This can also be said about the politics in a certain way, but the profit is more difficult to be measured and it takes a lot of time. The relation between the brand and the consumers is closer than in the case of the relations between the public and the politicians. The Government doesn’t need the consensus of the electorate on every single problem; some of them are not even debated in public. They don’t need a vote on every case. The Business seems to have won the race with the politics in the role of force of social change. And a government should be more responsible and more sensitive to those who gave them a voice if they were to be considered brands.

The brands are reinforced due to the fact that they answer to the public needs. The governments arrive at the top of the power and keep it also because of their capacity to threat and punish (as would Foucault say). The politicians receive the votes based on their promises during the campaign and the brands receive the votes for the results of their work. The votes for the brands are renewed very often as the brand opens new lines on the market or launches new products. While in politics there is the law of “all or nothing” in the case of the brands there are no winners and losers. From the vote received for a political program there are no details about which part of the program finally received the vote. The rate cost/benefit is easier to calculate in the case of the brand. When voting for a brand the consumer pays directly to the cashier. The relation between the candidate’s vote and the taxes cannot be calculated. As a conclusion, in order to improve the government’s brand you have to improve the democratic process, reinforce the law and the rule of law and the transparency.

The relation between the brand and the democracy is not a new one. The father of modern American democracy, Thomas Jefferson, never imagined the brand of his government in a non-agrarian society. A part of the brands of consume are born as the Jefferson’s world disappeared. In the XIX-Th century, the massive migration of the population towards the city showed that the consumers didn’t know anymore where the products they purchased came from. The brand’s evolution made possible for them to know who the producers are. The brand made possible the opening of the markets in order to be accessible to as many consumers as possible. All these factors made the evolution of the market possible. The trade gave power to the Western countries. It is there that the modern democracy evolved (according to the theory of the development of the world economy[4]).

Between Gastil’s list of liberties and the brand specialist we can find a common idea: the freedom to have a passport and to earn money (in order to be able to travel) are essential freedoms that are directly related to the brands. The people who travel are individual ambassadors who transmit the cultural values of their country of origin. In order to prosper and to flourish and to be happy, people need to learn more and to travel more in order to learn things that they wouldn’t be able to know otherwise.

By measuring the democracy of a country according to Gastil’s indicators we can find out which are the chances for a brand to have success in that country. On the other hand, it has been proven by the current studies that the brand is the result of the most democratic process possible. The brands would not exist without the active participation of the consumers, their votes are visible and measurable at any time and without these votes the brands would disappear.

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[1] Raymond Duncan GASTIL, “The Comparative Survey on Freedom: Experiences and Suggestions”, On Measuring Democracy, ed. By Alex Inkeles, Ed. Transaction Publishers, New Jersey, 1991. p.23.

[2] Raymond Duncan GASTIL, “The Comparative Survey on Freedom: Experiences and Suggestions”, On Measuring Democracy, op cit. p.31.

[3] http://www.brandchannel.com

[4] Andrew C. JANOS, “The Politics of backwardness in Continental Europe 1780-1945”, World Politics, Vol.41, Nr.3, April 1989, pp.325-358, http://links.jstor.org.

For pet owners ( special thanks to whom may have wrote this)

"To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door - pet nose height...

Dear Dogs and Cats:
The dishes with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is no secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years --canine or feline attendance is not required.

The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough!

And, to pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:

To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets:

1. They live here. You don't.
2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. That's why they call it "fur"niture.
3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
4. To you, they are an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn't speak clearly.

Remember: Dogs and cats are better than kids because they:

1. Eat less
2. Don't ask for money all the time
3 Are easier to train
4. Normally come when called
5. Never ask to drive the car
6. Don't hang out with drug-using friends
7. Don't smoke or drink
8. Don't have to buy the latest fashions
9. Don't want to wear your clothes
10. Don't need a gazillion dollars for college, and...
11. If they get pregnant, you can sell their children"

L'Etudiante

Sophie Marceau dans un film d'amour. L'Etudiante est un film avec beaucoup de charme. Sophie Marceau joue le role d'une jeune femme qui est en train de se preparer pour son Agregation et devenir professeur, elle rencontre dans une telegondole au ski un jeune homme musicien et compositeur qui va la surprendre. L'histoire de leur amour commence avec une rencontre banale mais ce transforme dans une histoire pleine de passion. Comment vont les deux skieurs faire connaissance? Vont-ils trouver des points communs? Une histoire d'amour entre deux gens completement differents qui peuvent peut etre se completer?

Sophie Marceau intr-un film de dragoste. Studenta este un film cu mult sarm. Sophie Marceau interpreteaza rolul unei femei tinere care se pregateste de concursul de "agregation" pentru a deveni profesoara. Ea il intalneste pe El intr-o telegondola pe pista de ski. El este muzician si compozitor si o va surprinde. Povestea dragostei lor incepe cu o intalnire in aparenta banala si intamplatoare dar se transforma intr-o poveste plina de pasiune. Cum vor cunostinta cei doi skiori? Vor gasi ei oare puncte comune pe care sa cladeasca o relatie? Este o poveste de dragoste intre doua persoane complet diferite dar care se pot completa?

Sophie Marceau in a love story. The Student is a movie with a lot of charm. Sophie Marceau plays the role of an young woman preparing her "agreation" exam for becoming a teacher. She meets a musician and composer during a ski trip to the mountains. Their love story stats with a random meeting and it transforms itself into a story full of passion. How will they meet? Will they find things in common in order to base a lasting relationship? They are totally diferent can they still complete themselves?

Fanfan

Sophie Marceau et Vincent Perez dans un film sur la conquete amoureuse et la recherche de preserver les premiers sentiments le long de la relation. Alexandre a une relation stable et est sur le point de se marier mais il rencontre Fanfan qui reveilla en lui les sentiments les plus beau du debut d'une relation. Il essaye de faire durer ces sentiments en gardant l'innocence du debut. Il croit avoir trouve la solution. Ce film peut etre la reponse a des questions que nous nous posons au moment ou l'on commence une relation. Comment faire pour que ca dure, pour que nos sentiments restent vives? C'est une question a laquelle il faut absolument repondre a deux.

Sophie Marceau si Vincent Perez intr-un film despre cucerirea dragostei si cautarea preservarii primelor sentimente pe parcursul intregii relatii. Alexandre are o relatie stabila si este pe cale sa se casatoreasca dar o intalneste pe Fanfan care trezeste in el cele mai frumoase sentimente ale inceputului unei relatii. El incearca sa permanentizeze aceste sentimente pastrand inocenta inceputului si crede ca a gasit solutia. Acest film poate fi raspunsul intrebarilor pe care ni le punem in momentul in care incepem o relatie. Cum sa facem ca aceste sentimente sa dureze, pentru ca aceste sentimente sa ramana vii? Este o intrebare la care trebuie sa se raspunda in doi.

Sophie Marceau and Vincent Perez in a movie about the quest of love and the search of preserving the first feelings during the whole relation. Alexandre has a long lasting relationship and is about to get married but the encounter of Fanfan wakes the most beautiful feelings in him, the ones of the begining of a relationship. He tries to make these feelings last by holding on to the innocence of the begining and he thinks that he has found the answer. This movie can be the answer to our questions when starting a relationship. How can we make these feelings last? How do we keep them alive? These are questions that we can only answer together.

Je reste (2003)

Un film avec Sophie Marceau, Vincent Perez, Charles Berling. Marie-Dominique et Bertrand forment un couple apparement uni. Seulement en apparence car tandis que Marie-Dominique fait tout pour que la famille soit en parfaite harmonie Bertrand son mari qui travaille comme ingenieur sur des projets dans le monde entier, passe son temps entre son egoisme excentrique, les avions, hotesses de l'air et sa grande passion le velo. Marie-Dominique le suit en consacrant sa vie a soutenir son mari et a s'occuper de leur enfant. Sa rencontre avec Antoine ecrivain et qui tout comme elle est amateur de cinema et d'art, reveille ses desirs de devenir une femme independente et de s'epanouir. Elle decide alors grace a sa nouvelle relation amoureuse de quitter Bertrand, mais celui-ci ne se laisse pas vaincre et fait tout pour empecher sa femme de partir.
C'est un film plein de surprises dans lequel on peut reconnaitre des traits de caractere de personnes qu'on connait dans la vie reelle.

Un film cu Sophie Marceau,Vincent Perez, Charles Berling. Marie-Dominique si cu Bertrand formeaza un cuplu in aparenta unit. Numai in aparenta pentru ca in timp ce Marie-Dominique face tot pentru ca familia ei sa fie in perfecta armonie, Bertrand sotul ei, care lucreaza ca inginer la niste proiecte internationale, isi petrece timpul intre egoismul excentric, avioane, stewardeze si marea sa pasiune ciclismul. Marie-Dominique il urmeaza si isi consacra viata sustinerii sotului sau si ingrijirii copilului lor. Insa intalnirea sa cu scriitorul Antoine care ca si ea este pasionat de cinema si de arta, ii trezeste dorinta de a inflori si de a deveni o femeie independenta. Relatia sa amoroasa cu Antoine o incurajeaza sa se desparta de Bertrand si sa inceapa o viata noua dar acesta nu se lasa invins de noile ambitii ale sotiei sale si face orice ca sa o impiedice sa plece de acasa.
Este un film plin de surprize in care putem recunoaste reactii si comportamente ale unor oameni pe care ii cunoastem in viata reala.

A movie with Sophie Marceau, Vincent Perez, Charles Berling. Marie-Dominique and Bertrand seem like a solid couple. It is only an appearence because while Marie-Dominique does all she can for maintaining a perfect harmony in her family, Betrand her husband, who works in the constructions and has project all over the world,spends his time between his excentric selfishness, plains, steward ladies and his passion cyclism. Marie-Dominique follows him and spends her time with supporting her husband and their son. The meeting with Antoine a writer and a cinematography and art fan like her,woke up in her the desire to grow and become an independent woman. The love affaire with Antoine encourages her to break up with Bertrand and to begin a new life but Bertrand doesn't give up and does all he can to stop his wife from leaving.
It is a movie full of surprizes and unexpected situations in which we can recognize reactions and the behavior of people we know in real life.

Ensemble c'est tout***

Un autre film avec Audrey Tautou, sur l'amitie, l'amour et l'humanite. Qui merite a etre vu pour son histoire ainsi que pour les acteurs. Une love story a la francaise avec beaucoup de realisme et naturellement petillant par-ci, par-la. C'est aussi un filme sur la noblesse des gens, que ce soit la noblesse de l'ame ou le rang herite. C'est un filme interessant a voir pour rappeller et faire connaitre a ceux qui ne savent pas beaucoup sur les familles nobles de l'Europe de l'Est. Leurs descendents gardent encore en heritage la tradition et les manieres qui malheureusement se sont presque completement dissipees dans les societe modernes europeennes et occidentales.

Un alt film cu Audrey Tautou despre prietenie, dragoste si umanitate. Care merita a fi vazut atat pentru poveste cat si pentru actori. Un love-story tipic francez, cu mult realism si naturalete. Este un film despre nobletea oamenilor, despre nobletea sufletului si nobletea data de rangul mostenit. Este un film interesant de vazut, care aminteste celor care cunosc si arata celor care nu stiu nimic despre familiile nobile din Europa de Est. Urmasii lor, pastreaza in continuare ca mostenire traditia si manierele care din pacate au disparut aproape complet in societatile moderne europene si occidentale.

Another movie with Audrey Tautou about friendship, love and humanity. It is worthy seeing it because of the story but also for the actors. It is a tipycal french love story , with a lot of realism and a natural excitement. It is a movie about people's noblesse, the soul's and the one inherited as a social rank. It is an interesting movie which reminds for those who know and shows for those who don't know what the East European Noblesse is about. Their descendants keep the value of their inheritance of the tradition and the manners which, unfortunately, have disappeared almost completely in the modern european and occidental societies.

***Le nouveau film de Claude Berri, Ensemble c'est tout, Pathé Distribution avec Audrey Tautou, Guillaume Canet, Laurent Stocker et Francoise Bertin, un film d'apres le roman d'Anna Gavalda.

A la follie, pas dutout

Un filme avec Audrey Tautou qui joue le role d'une jeune fille amoureuse.
C'est l'histoire d'un amour impossible, d'un amour obsessif qui touche le pathologique.
Une mise en scene un peu speciale, un va et vien dans l'histoire. Le spectateur verra les deux cotes de l'histoire comme dans deux plaidoyers des parties opposees.
Tout se deroule dans le rythme du battement du coeur d'Angelique qui tombe follement et subitement amoureuse de Loic. Le reste est a voir si vous avez la patience de regarder un filme originalement francais.

Un film cu Audrey Tautou care joaca rolul unei fete indragostite.
Este povestea unei iubiri imposibile, unei iubiri obsesive care atinge patologicul.
O scenografie un pic speciala, un dialog intre doua puncte de vedere. Filmul are o structura asemanatoare unei pledoarii tinuta de fiecare dintre cele doua parti opuse.
Totul se desfasoara in ritmul batailor inimii lui Angelique care se indragosteste nebuneste si in mod subit de Loic. Restul ramane de vazut daca aveti rabdarea sa vedeti un film original francez.

A movie with Audrey Tautou, who plays the role of a girl in love.
It is a story about an impossible love, an obsessive love which touches the pathology.
The scenario is a bit special, it is a dialog between two different points of view. Everything happens in the rythm of the heart beats of Angelique's heart who suddenly and madly in love with Loic. The rest is to be seen if you have the patience to watch an original french movie.

Sinucideri

Am avut un soc cand am vazut la televizor poza unei persoane pe care am cunoscut-o cu mult timp in urma anuntata la capitolul tentativa de sinucidere.
Nu voi da nume probabil ca cei care au urmarit stirile stiu despre cine este vorba.
Daca oamenii ar cauta sa asculte mai mult si sa dea mai mult celor din jurul lor, aceste lucruri nu s-ar intampla.
Dupa umila mea parere nu merita sa alegi acest gest nici ca fiind prima solutie nici macar ca si o ultima solutie. Nimic nu este mai pretios pe lume decat viata si ar trebui sa profitam la maxim de ea. Pentru cei care vor citi acest mesaj sper ca prima solutie sa incercati atunci cand aveti probleme sa vorbiti cu cineva si in al doilea rand sa cautati solutille bune nu pe cele usoare atunci cand ceva va deranjeaza.

Doamne ajuta!
Toate cele bune.

Places in time: totalitarian art and architecture -Germany

The relation between the construction of the nation states and the art. This moment concerns the XIX'th century in Germany and Italy. This period explains how the use of art constitues the row material due to serve to justify the existence of the nation before the state was built (usage of the past). Art was used by new states to install themselves and to represent them and also to legitimate themselves.

During the first half of the XX 'th century, the confrontation between the regimes communist and fascist did not limit itself at the ideology and military , but also concerned the cultural field. In fact the USSR of Stalin, the Germany of Hitler and the Italy of Mussolini created a common estethic in spite of their politic oposition. Those totalitarian regimes have used the art as an instrument of their propaganda.

If art is an active agent of communication between people it is also because it is equally a means of expression of the ideology. One question that follows is in what way the art has participated to the enrolment of the people?

The architecture has offered the luxury and display, its giantism has expressed the authority, giving rise to both fear and admiration. Concerning the fine arts they challanged the supreme chief and they announced the arrival of the "new man". Arts in general gave some form to the totalitarian utopia, which had as a final purpose to change the nature of the human being: to annihilate any form of individualism.

They imagined man as a simple wheel of a huge machine, the one of the all mighty state. The objective was to convince the people of its superiority and to make it accept all the sacrifices in a spiritual union with the Head of State. The art was not the reflection of the society but the reflection of the idea that the power had made of the people

Art was concieved by the our contemporaneous, according of its ways of evolution, as an essential construction of the continuityof the state and that of a political systhem and not only as a clothing of the politic.

Art as a vector of the politic: in other words which functions the diferent regimes assign to the art? Teaching vertues, demonstrative ones, reconversion?...

How is politic represented? According to which estethic canons? Do the political regimes invent new ways of particular representation or do they just borrow the ones existing in order to convert them and use them? To which restraints and logic answer these artistic works immediately related to the politics?
Art as a political practice: the estheticism of the polics is a phenomenon which was underlined by Walter Benjamin for the nazi but which can also be applicable to other form of government.
Art was concieved to convert the people in both a symbolic way for the essential legitimation of the regime but also because of the esthetic emotion of the mass which was concieved as an efficient diving force for the membership and attachment to the values the regime proposed. The monumental art, for example, is difficult to understand if it is detached of the political liturgy which served as a case as the fascist art did.

The nazi choices: the plans of Berlin by Hilter and Speer, the principles, the works (architecture and sculpture) that are to be found in Albert Speer's Books and Memoires, as the architectural delirium of the II-rd Reich. Hitler does not like Berlin he wishes to give it the looks of his political ambitions. The showcase of the regime has to go through a sisethmatic demolition of the buildings which could stop the projects of the architect Albert Speer. Only the war has delayed the constructions of the new capital baptised "Germania" of which inauguration was due to the universal exposition in 1950;nevertheless the old town has been destroyed. The only visible constructions are those of the olympic installations of the olympic games of 1936's summer of Werner March, the airport of Tempelhof by Ernst Sagebiel, the administrative complex of the Fehrbelliner Platz, the barracks of the former Quartier Napoleon ( occupied after 1945 by the French Forces stationed in Germany) and the former minstry of the Air the Reichsluftfahrtministerium

On conservatism

On Conservatism

It could be told that the Conservatism has no status as a program, ideology or political philosophy. Sometimes even its status as a political condition, stand is interrogated.
From Huntington's point of view "the ideology is a system of ideas regarding the distribution of political and social values according to a significant social group". According to Huntington, there are three large conceptions of the Conservatism which are in conflict.
The first one is the "aristocratic theory" which defines the conservatism as an Ideology of the historical movement which is unique and specific to a moment in time. It is the reaction of the feudal-aristocratic and agrarian social classes to the French Revolution, the Liberalism and the progress of the "bourgeoisie" at the end of the XVIII th century and at the beginning of the first half of the XIX th century.
Karl Mennheim describes the modern conservatism as a "function of a particular historical and sociological situation"

The liberalism is the ideology of the middle classes; the socialism and the Marxism are ideologies of the proletarian and the conservatism the ideology of aristocracy.
The Conservatism becomes in an indissoluble manner associated with the feudalism and the "Ancien Regime", the medieval period and the nobility. It is opposed to the middle classes, the work, the trade and the industrialization but also to the democracy, the liberalism and the individualism, as Huntington observes. According to Louis Hartz, the United States don't have a feudal tradition, and the efforts of the intellectuals of spreading the conservative ideas through the middle classes are doomed to fail.
The second theory is the "autonomous" one. In which the conservatism is not necessarily related to the interests of a particular group or dependent of a historical specific configuration of the social forces. "Conservatism is an autonomous system of ideas which are generally valid"

It is defined in terms of universal values as the justice, the order, the balance and moderation. The conservatism as Russell Kirk argues is simply a problem of "will and intelligence". The principles of the conservatism are not reduced to a one and only class of interests. According to this theory, the conservatives may appear from different classes and occupations. This theory is popular in the Neo-conservative class.
The third theory is based on the circumstantial definition. It defines the conservatism as an ideology which appears from the distinction of a recurrent type of historical situation in which the major challenge is addressed to the established institutions, and of which supporters use the conservative ideology for defending those institutions. "The conservatism is that system of values used to justify any social established order, anywhere and anytime it may exist, against the fundamental challenges of its nature"

Huntington also argues that the essence of the conservatism is "the passionate affirmation of the values of the existing institutions". This doesn't mean that it is opposed to all the changes. But for preserving the social fundamental values it may be necessary to put the changes on a second plan. To be a conservative you must be happy with the existent order and to be willing to fight against a serious challenge.
The difference between the three theories is closely related to the relation between the conservative ideology and the historical process. The aristocratic definition reduces the conservative ideology to a particular social class in a particular type of society. The autonomous theory, allows the appearance of the conservatism in any moment of the history. The circumstantial theory argues that the conservatives appear when social groups oppose themselves to the challenges and defend their status in relation with other social groups.
A common point between the three theories is that they agree on the content of the conservative ideology: the substance of the values and the ideas in which the conservatives believe.

One of the most important representative figures of the Conservatism is Edmund Burke. In his work we can find the structure of the conservative thinking.

Promoting Romania's Image

Promoting Romania's Image

I have been planning to work on the issue of Image and promotion of cultural values since 2005 and there has been progress made in this field, mostly due to the contribution of country branding makers as Simon Anholt and Philip Kottler and other specialist in Marketing Places and Branding. My research in this complex field, as a crossroad between political sciences and marketing, lasted two years during the Graduate School. A project of thesis of PHD in this field was developed during 2007's summer. But the subject of avant-garde in this area was considered less important than the studies of the past and political history. As a result it has never found the light in a long lasting relation between the Faculty of Political Sciences and me. That was really a shame because in the eyes of a believer that could have been a true success story. I honestly believe that the access to modern joint-ventures between different fields of research can only help the evolution of a subject, of a domain. And my contribution was to relate apparently total different fields in order to increase the potential of development of the complex domain that are the political sciences, towards a practical approach of the old and new theories concerning the development of democracy after the totalitarian trauma in the post-totalitarian societies.

I have focused on the issue of the image because the well functioning of such a country, especially Romania, is also based on the way that it is perceived from outside. Unfortunately there is no symmetry and no correspondent between what Romania wishes to promote and how it is really seen and promoted by others.

Opinions are divided in that sense, because some people consider that "no news is good news" and others, as the marketing specialists argue, news, no matter if they are favorable or not make the subject of discussion exist in the eyes of the world. So it is very important that the country's name appears in the columns of the news papers, even if it is to criticize negative aspects in politics, policies and social events

The last one hundred meters/Communism in a child's eyes

The last one hundred meters

It is about the last years of the Communist period and the memories of a person that was born in the early eighties in the Eastern Europe, namely in Romania. How do one survive the Communist era without remember anything? It is impossible if we only think at the stories told by our parents, the fragments of the past that we do remember and all that coagulated in our mind and gathered with the memories of stories read and analyzed by people that lived through all the period and even before and after it. The main issue here is to open a new chapter about what the eighties sons and daughters remember of the Communist period and how is the Communist period seen by the eyes "of an angel", the eyes of children that were born only to see the last glimpse of a totalitarian regime, one who was very rough for most of the people but very soft for others in comparison with other totalitarian regimes. We will humbly look on the perspectives of such a remembrance without touching the untouchable, the memories of the others.

One the nicest teachers that I can remember from college who became one of my greatest friends, or maybe my greatest friend due to our common path that has been lasting for so long, Ioan Stanomir , my Constitutional Law teacher, has pointed out, in a collective book about the memories of the Communist past called " A world which disappeared", some very important aspects of that era, beginning with the memories of the boy that he was then and the memories who faded for me about the school and the rules , back then, the hidden information and the way that the conversations back at home had nothing to do with the common discourse in the "real Romanian world". His memories are better penciled because of the fact that he spent a decade more than I in the Communism. But what we have in common are things that most of the children born in the Communist era have in common: memories about family, about how simple was a child's life in comparison with nowadays. The struggle with the words and the different discourses has been erased of my past because I did not have to deal with the real political world besides my first grade when I had at 7 am to be in front of the school singing the National Anthem. And all of our books had on the first page the photograph great leader Nicolae Ceausescu, as also every class had the portrait of him on one of its walls.

What I can remember of that period is more about the innocence of my childhood and the parallel with what children have today, the diversity of activities and freedom, not only from the financial point of view but also freedom of choice, which we did not have back then.

The media and Romania's Image

Since 1990 and the collapse of Communism Romania has been in the attention of foreign media in several occasions. One of the highest moments was the Revolution and its results the steps towards democracy. They focused on the events of the early nineties the social movements and the miners from Valea Jiului in January 1999, moments very well depicted in the former Prime Minister's Book Radu Vasile "Race on the Contrary Direction"

Other events brought to our attention from the foreign press where the elections in Romania after 1990 and the transformations in the parties configurations since then. The main periods being 1990- 1996 the transformations in the Leading Party led by Ion Iliescu, the former president, the FSN (the Front of the National Salvation), and the rests of its split in 1992 FSN became FDSN in one part en PD on the other and led in 1993 to the creations of PDSR and nowadays it is called PSD (The Social Democrat Party). In 1996 Romania was led by a president of the Democratic Convention Emil Constantinescu and his prime ministers Victor Ciorbea and Radu Vasile (from PNTCD- the National Peasant Christian and Democrat Party) till 2000. A third wave in the media's interest is the return to the Leadership of the country of the former president of the left Ion Iliescu and his prime minister Adrian Nastase that lost the elections in 2004 when the Aliance DA (dreptate si adevar) "Justice and Truth" won the elections changing the post revolutionary and transition atmosphere into the rightful one of a new reborn one more democratic in parallel with the western models.

The last but not the least important moment in the international media has been Romania adhesion at the European Union, it was not about "that Romania" anymore but about a new member, one of them. And the interest of the media was increased.
Even if my research ended before the new events that can be attached to Romania's image, in Italy this year, I argue that it is of a major importance to stay focused in this area of research because it is a field so new.

Media has had an important role in the opinion making since the beginning of times. The foreign media could help countries like Romania to develop a sense of comfort, stability and natural well being in the democratic system, by promoting the positive aspects and the positive steps that Romania has made towards the democracy. Instead of that, media has promoted the negative aspects of what Romania still tries to shake and solve, and by exaggerating the negative aspects, the media has created stereotypes that cannot be replaced even if they no longer exist in Romania's realities.