Romanian diaspora: The 2014 presidential elections as positive community practice

Abstract

Romania has a very complex history of outbound migration, which resulted in numerous Romanian communities in several countries of the world. And on the occasion of the presidential elections in November 2014, all these communities united, in a higher turnout than usual, towards the achievement of two major common purposes. The first one was exerting a democratic right in difficult conditions, as the organization of the elections at the Romanian Embassies and Consulates abroad was poorly organized. The second one, and with the most important long-term consequences was contributing to the creation of a new Romanian society, to which they might want to return someday. In this paper, we shall analyze the theoretical explanation of the phenomenon in relation with active participation, and then we will apply the theoretical concepts to the responses of a group of Romanians living abroad, regarding their motivation behind their decision to vote, whether they encountered any difficulties, and what are the hopes they associated with casting their vote. The willingness to participate and make their voices heard and the passion manifested in pursuing a collective goal, especially for a country with a fairly recent tradition in the field, make the voting participation of Romanian diaspora a lesson in active citizenship, and, consequently, positive community practice.