ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a framework for the analysis of national-communism in Romania, and addresses three crucial concepts: nation; nationalism; and nation-building. It describes the process of nation-building under a "patrimonial communist regime" like the one that was in power in Romania during the period 1945-1989. The chapter examines nationalism as a political principle that has to do with controlling the state and using state power. It explains the way nationalism was instrumentalized by the communist power elite in order to mobilize popular support. The famous conceptualization of the nation as an "imagined community" belongs to Benedict Anderson. In the aftermath of the 1968 events, the process of building a "socialist" nation in Romania took a definite form and was carried out further by means of: modernization; elite manipulation; and cultural reproduction. Rural electrification contributed enormously in forging the nation, since it was accompanied by the spread of radio equipment that brought rural Romania out of its isolation.
