Moldova: Nested Cases of Belated Nation-building

Nation-building in the post-Soviet Republic of Moldova and its non-recognised break-away region of Transnistria constitutes a favourite of constructivist nationalism studies. Both the first wave of studies by historians, linguists and political scientists in the mid-1990s and a second wave including anthropologists in the past five years, however, have struggled to make sense of the conflicting nationalisms. The clean distinction between ethnic and civic nationalism may be meaningful for Western academics, but it is not for Moldovan “ethnic entrepreneurs” and their constituencies. The same applies to the distinction between nationalism as an elite project and the national identities of citizens and societal groups.