Today''s Romania is a shadow of what it was a century ago, with the country''s elite - corrupt politicians, bandit businessmen, and rude footballers - representing the country on the world stage. How might Romania regain its former glory?
It is high time we face the national shame of living in a decapitated country. Our brightest and most visionary citizens scramble for the borders and litter foreign embassies in the hope of joining the ?"real world'' of opportunities and academic resources. It has become self-evident that no platonic enlightened king will ever arise from the crypto-kleptocrats that have consolidated control over our government institutions and economic resources. Hope in the next generation is even less realistic given that corporate advertisers have happily filled in the thought vacuum resulting from our disastrous educational system and an ever-absent national identity.
In a world of increasing globalisation and with an impending EU accession date, it may seem strange to bring up the topic of national elites. Yet it is these very elites that are the building blocks of the EU, and even, one might argue, of globalisation itself. Sadly, today Romania has no national elites, and as such, it cannot, and in fact does not, fully participate in these supra-national constructions.
What national elite Romania might once have had is now spread out over half the globe between Vienna and Los Angeles. As well, a significant amount perished in the communist labour camps and prisons. The lack of a domestic elite manifests itself in today''s parasitic and ineffectual political class, in our dusty academic circles, and in our predatory, shortsighted and ultimately uncompetitive business class.
This leads to an acute inability to adequately represent Romania''s interests on the European and global stages. This often means lost economic opportunities and political irrelevance. It also leads to cultural and intellectual isolation, thus ensuring the imposition of a vicious circle of perpetual ostracising on the fringes of Europe.
Yet it was not always so. In the first half of the last century, Romanian intellectuals were once in the avant-garde of European arts and sciences. Echoes of their existence managed to make themselves heard throughout the twentieth century.
A hundred years ago, Romanians were the leaders of such scientific fields as human flight, aerodynamics, jet engines, medicine, neurology, biochemistry, organic chemistry, mathematics and geology. A rough equivalent in today''s terms would be, say, stem cell research, nanotechnology and software engineering.
Prior to the imposition of the communist regime, Romanians built the first jet engine, discovered insulin, created the building blocks of modern sculpture and were composing fantastic symphonies. Romanians were pioneers in the emerging field of oil drilling and refining. Romania''s agricultural output was in the top ten worldwide in over a dozen categories, employing the most modern techniques and technology. Romanians would regularly study at the top universities in Paris, Vienna and Berlin, earning doctorates and publishing in Europe''s leading academic journals, but would return home to teach, research or apply their knowledge. At the time, it was unthinkable to not return!
Today those days are long gone. Romania''s best and brightest leave in droves, never to return again. Basic research and development, for all intents and purposes, does not exist. Having access to foreign scientific journals and conferences is considered a major coup, never mind adding something to the dialogue. The government does not fund the sciences and poorly funds the arts. A conservative public hardly supports experimental arts while "patrons," in the traditional sense, are a rare find.
Romania needs to make it a national priority to rebuild its elite. But it should not rebuild it in the light of its existing political and business class, which would probably be its first instinct. That would be disastrous. We need to understand that, by definition, this is a long-term project. While we would be lucky to see tangible results before at least a decade, the mere fact that this problem might be taken seriously would be an indication of a start. And we must start, otherwise we will be doomed forever.
Romania should invest heavily in its education system, particularly in terms of doctoral and post-doctoral opportunities. Romania should make it a national priority to join pan-European basic research initiatives and to create public-private partnerships with multinational companies so as to incite them to set up local research and development facilities. Those companies should then be motivated to fund the education of science students, with a view towards hiring them in the future.
The Romanian government should fund a new arts centre which would offer world class exhibition and performance venues while incorporating such new fields as digital art, video and other areas which touch on the intersection of art, science and technology. It should set up a national fund, with the help of corporate sponsors, which would fund individual experimental projects. And of course, it should tap into pan-European opportunities, not only for funding, but also for a good dose of creativity.
Funding is not the problem. All this should not cost the government more than several hundred million euros - a paltry sum compared to the 140 million euros it costs to build a single underpass in order to improve Bucharest''s awful traffic. No, money is not the problem. What is lacking is vision, leadership and the will to improve our society.
While perhaps these initiatives alone might not be enough to revive Romania''s pre-war elites, they will go a long way into setting the stage for a revival of excellence. The raw material is there, it just needs to be stirred up and then captured into a virtuous cycle.
(This article first appeared in Vivid magazine.)
* Matei Paun is a founder of Romania Think Tank, romania-economics@yahoogroups.com, and BAC Romania, and can be contacted at mateipaun@aol.com
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