러시아ㆍ유라시아

The Republic of Moldova is situated in a land which was ceded from Romanian's historical territory to Russia since the early nineteenth century, and today its borders are almost coinciding with the so-called Bessarabia. Moldovans in this region have experienced various political influences such as Russification, Romanization, Sovietization, and Moldovanization for about 200 years, which were complex factors influencing the national identities of the multicultural aspect and the people's self-consciousness. From these historical backgrounds, various questions have been asked about what the current national identities of Moldova and the self-consciousness of the Moldovans are. With the brief historical background of the birth of the Republic of Moldova, this paper examines Romanianism and Moldovanism as two major political tendencies in the formation of the national identity of the region over the past quarter century and also examines the recent population census and statistical data to check the self-consciousness of the people of this region. It seems that there is a difference between the national identity being pursued by Moldovan political leadership and the self-consciousness of ordinary citizens. The intention of political leadership in constitution of national identity is based on westernization, which is embodied in the way of joining the European Union. On the other hand, the self-consciousness of ordinary citizens seems to be inclined strongly that they belong to independent Moldova, not Romania, Europe or Russia.