Intellectuals and the public sphere in post-communist Romania: a discourse analytical perspective

Abstract

Social and political theorists have observed that the delegitimation of communism proceeded after 1989 as a delegitimation of the left in general, and that varieties of neoliberalism untainted by any compromise with left-wing ideas have enjoyed much more popularity amongst the democratic intellectuals than social-democratic or social liberal ideas. This article argues that intellectual discourse has displayed a lack of openness towards the discourse of the democratic left and towards values like social justice and equality, which the social costs of transition have rendered sensitive to an increasingly large number of people. In a text by H.-R. Patapievici, this is analysed as a failure of dialogicality — with alternative discourses and with the public in general. Ineffective public space dialogue, analysed both as a discourse and a genre issue, is seen as one of the causes for the intellectuals' increasingly weak impact on Romanian society.