Ionut Chiruta

The Hub on Emotions, Populism and Polarization (HEPP), University of Helsinki

This article investigates how political strategies interrelate populist rhetoric with memory issues. By looking at the case of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) from Romania, between 2017–2019, this article reveals how the slide to populism, generated by cyclical confrontations with the rule of law institutions, steered the PSD to adopt conspiratio...

This study investigates the far-right counter-hegemonic discourses employed in Romania during the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out and the promotion of green certificates. Using an array of traditional and occult symbols as well as religious iconography, the protests held by the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) employed ritualistic ceremonies and...

After garnering considerable media attention during its first year, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) is dropping in the polls because of the war in Ukraine. The change in media logic is affecting the clout of the far-right party in Romania.

This article explores the cultural dynamics of Fidesz's kin-state policies achieved in Romania between 2015 and 2020, particularly in the enclave of Szeklerland. In recent years, Fidesz's external policies constructed a transborder “synthetic home” connected to Hungary by memory spaces. Consequently, this study investigates how the ethnocultural re...

When the country’s fate during COVID-19 depends on the election of a party leader, the people cannot but suffer. The paltriness of the human condition is rarely more genuinely and simply put than in Greek tragedies. One such example is Euripides’ Medea, who at one point judiciously ponders, “It’s human; we all put self-interest first.” In all likel...

This article is an exploratory analysis of the political style of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSD), which, despite being a mainstream center-left party, has shifted from a latent to a crystalized populist rhetoric. Using qualitative content analysis of party speeches and press statements from 2015–2019, the article shows how the political...

In early May, Romanian media broke the news that a Liechtenstein prince had, in March, killed Romania’s largest brown bear. The scandal surrounding the killing of Arthur, the bear who activists allege may even be the largest brown bear in Europe, captured the public’s imagination. Yet a month later, no investigation has been launched. In a well-cra...

This article investigates the narratives employed by the Romanian media in covering the development of COVID-19 in Roma communities in Romania. This paper aims to contribute to the academic literature on Romani studies, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, by adopting as its case study the town of Țăndărei, a small town in the south of Roman...

The introduction of the Public Service Broadcast changed the landscape of television and radio to a point where these two mediums dictated the tendencies in the society, influencing people and giving birth to new channels of communication. Having this in mind, this paper consists of three parts. The first part will discuss the principles of the Pub...

One aspect that leads to the increase of democracy in Scandinavia is media, particularly the Public Service Broadcasting in relation to the unique Media Welfare State. Having this said, this paper will try to assess and analyze the Public Service Broadcasting in the Nordic countries in regards to the development of Media Welfare State. Thus, the fo...