The risk of losing national identity in the twenty-first century Romania, or national identity from adaptation to self-censorship

Abstract

The concept of risk was defined in general terms or with reference to a specific aspect of one field of research or another. When the term was regarded at a general level it was defined, for example, as “the probable frequency and probable magnitude of future loss” (Jones 2005: 12). Therefore, the most striking effect of or aspect related to risk is the loss that it engenders. When related to movements in society at one level or another the notion was viewed in connection with various aspects such as business, politics, language, health, security, etc. concerning the evolution of society in a particular concern. In our paper we propose to relate the risk paradigm to aspects concerning national identity and discuss the manner in which risk can be registered and/or gauged at the level of preserving the markers of national identity in the twenty-first century Romania in the context of the new economic, financial, cultural, political, etc. challenges and factors of change. The contribution of all these factors can negatively affect the integrity of national identity and, in time, the weakening or devitalisation of national specificity may become increasingly discernible.