Civil society and political actors in Romania (1866-1914)

The first part of the research is an introductory studyon the associative phenomenon and civil society from thegeneral (European) framework to the particular one of theSoutheast European and Romanian space. After mentioningthe historiographical landmarks related to the developmentof the concept the introductory study also includes anoverview of the general features of Romanian associationismfeaturing the instruments people and strategies usedhighlighting representative examples of associative formsfrom the second half of the eighteenth century. The RomanianPolitical Elite and the Development of Civil Society.Objectives and Mechanisms (Late Nineteenth and EarlyTwentieth Century) is meant to represent an analysis of areality of civil society also sensed at the European levelnamely the intersection between the political and associativefields. The study focuses on the involvement of themodern political elite in the development of associationismto achieve objectives reforms or modernisation initiativesoutside the institutional framework they represented. Whetherwe refer to liberals conservatives or socialists the associationssocieties and other forms of civil organisationwhere leaders and politicians were involved the objectivespursued through this form of sociocultural involvementand the areas where the unleashing of civil society forceswas sensed the most in the timeframe mentioned aboverepresent the research directions of the study.