ABSTRACT
Romania and Ceausescu are examples of a political, socio-economic, and cultural system that has developed in special ways, so that today, towards the end of the 1980s, this political system has a number of unique features. The extent of leadership drift in contemporary Romania is indeed unique. Another phenomenon which is found throughout the region but exhibits its most advanced form in Romania is nepotism. Political pathology is a serious condition, but it is arguable that Romanian society is experiencing a crisis that goes beyond the political order and tends to rip apart the very fabric of that society. Romania, as part of the interstate and ideological system of communism, shares certain political and societal characteristics with the other states and parties of the region. Romania is also in the mainstream of the East European experience in terms of socio-economic and political performance. Romania is part of the East European problem of mass alienation and apathy.
