Symposion, 5, 1 (2018): 21-40 Third World Themes in the International Politics of the Ceaușescu Regime or the International Affirmation of the 'Socialist Nation' Emanuel Copilaș Abstract: The present article aims to offer a synoptic picture of communist Romania's relations with Third World countries during the Ceaușescu regime. Within these relations, economic and geopolitical motivations coexisted along with ideological ones, thus making the topic one of the most interesting and relevant key for understanding RSR's complex and cunning international strategy. However, I intend to prove that mere pragmatism is not enough to comprehend the drive behind Ceaușescu's diplomatic efforts in post-colonial Africa; ideological factors need also to be taken into account. Keywords: blackness, consciencism, 'group of 77', Maoism, nationalcommunism, neo-colonialism, pragmatism. Introduction Considering itself, since 1972, a 'socialist developing country,' the Romanian Socialist Republic (RSR) followed with this ingenious strategy a number of specific reasons, one of them consisting in diversifying its global commercial options, another to become a well-known and respected voice on the international stage, mostly in the emerging field of nonalignment and, last but not least, to obtain a symbolic and ideological prestige most useful for future international endeavors. As a 'socialist developing country,' RSR was paying a lot of attention to the 'new international order', a revolutionary concept consisting in the attenuation of global social, economic and geopolitical inequalities, in boosting the importance of small and middle states on the international scene and in permanently paving the way for the Leninist 'new' to the disadvantage of the bourgeois 'old'. My working hypothesis resides in understanding RSR's interest in postcolonial Africa as a means to gradually be perceived, along with Yugoslavia, as a middle sized China within the matrix of tiermondism. Second, along with this symbolic prestige specific interests like gaining access to the Western industrial market or obtaining cheap natural resources, mostly oil, several minerals or wood are wrapped up. As far as the structure of the paper is concerned, the article starts with a detailed introduction which presents the appearance and controversies Emanuel Copilaș 22 surrounding nonalignment both as ideology and geopolitical practice, followed by a methodological and a literature review section, then by a short analysis of African post-colonial national ideologies with reference to Romanian nationalcommunism and a critical assessment of RSR's acceptance into the so-called 'group of 77'. Finally, the conclusions of this whole scientific demarche are presented. Basically, RSR and the Third World African countries engaged in 'multilateral' relations during the 1970s, relations entailed by very practical reasons, but boosted considerably due to ideological affinities between both parties. In the following decade, substantial changes within the international political economy brought the Romanian-Third World idyll to an abrupt, but predictable halt, proving that they are best understood as a component of the whole international environment during the second half of the Cold War. The states of the Third World – whose number simply exploded after 1950, once the decolonization process started, especially in Africa – represented for the RSR a new opportunity to manifest its independence in the sphere of international relations with reference to the Soviet Union. Therefore, once the events that allowed the dissident ally's distancing from Moscow gradually became obsolete – the Sino-Soviet split or the tensions between East and West substantially reduced in the first half of the 1970s, once the Helsinki accords were signed – the so-called nonaligned movement of the young African, SouthAmerican and Asian states became the new international playground for the RSR (Barnett 1992, 41). The nonaligned movement named, within the United Nations (UN), the 'group of 77,' after the initial number of the founding states (quickly exceeded in a few years), was anticipated in 1955 through the Bandung conference, although it officially appeared at the beginning of the next decade. With this occasion, several international principles that would constitute the political backbone of the future nonaligned movement were adopted: the respect for human rights as they are defined in the UN charter, equal consideration for all races, nations and states, the recognition of the right of every state to individually or collectively defend itself, according to the UN principles, renouncing the use of aggressions and threats in the relations between states, the solving of international conflicts and disputes solely through peaceful means, the encouragement of international cooperation based on mutual interests and on the respect of international rules (Sprințeroiu 1985, 29-30). One of the founders of the movement, Ghana's president (and a personal friend of Nicolae Ceaușescu), Kwame Nkrumah, eloquently expressed the aim of the nonaligned states: "We were born through protest and revolt against the international status-quo, due to the dividing of the world in two antagonistic blocs. We must permanently refuse to align ourselves with one or the other." (quoted in Sprințeroiu 1985, 20-21) Sprințeroiu refuses to refer to the nonaligned movement as an alliance of the Third World countries, considering it rather as a 'moral force' capable of putting into perspective the interests of all developing states without creating a Third World Themes in the International Politics of the Ceaușescu Regime 23 political, ideological and military bloc. Furthermore, the nonaligned movement could not be equated with a mechanical equilibrium through which its member states would have tried to obtain benefits from both the West and the Soviet Union, because the whole essence of the movement consisted in the refusal of 'bloc policy' and of 'all forms of dependence,' of coercing states in the field of international relations. The nonaligned movement wanted to democratize the relations between states and to create a global environment different from that of the Cold War, based on growing inequalities and recurrent crises – a new international order, one that appealed to the RSR more from pragmatic than from ideological reasons (see Sprințeroiu 1985, 44-45, 64-65). Nonalignment was not only a (geo)political option, but also an ideological one, therefore neither capitalism nor communism, in its European form, at least, could be directly extrapolated within the thinking and the practice of the young states, most of them African, which managed to win their independence despite the opposition of their former European oppressors. "Some would like the liberation movements to orient themselves towards class-struggle, like in Europe. Some would want them to become realist: a Don Quijote which throws himself over white skin windmills." (Neto quoted in Dragoș 1982, 54). Federalization by tribal criteria was also rejected: the African nations in the making wanted only to inspire themselves from the political solutions of the North (capitalism, communism), not to copy them, reserving themselves the right to formulate their own political answers to the problems they encountered: "Our European friends need to make way in their thinking and conceptions to the necessary flexibility in order to understand that our countries, being in a development stage, must discover their own political formulas in the context of their situations and civilizations, which are very much different from that of the European or American countries." (Ahidjo quoted in Dragoș 1982, 91-92). Nonaligned radicalism provoked even from the beginning the hostility of the United States, Great Britain and France, but also of the European Community as a whole, the last one managing, through economic pressures, to subordinate the raw materials and the markets of the former colonies (Sprințeroiu 1985, 5458; Quenum 1969, 18-19; Țurlea 1970, 19-20). Although the North-South polarization was, during the Cold War, and still remains, an undeniable reality, the three above quoted authors exaggerate: the young independent states could not have possibly survived in the absence of strong economic relations with the developed West, the most important global consumer of raw materials. And because these states, from reasons specific to colonialism, were obstructed to develop their own industries, they were effectively obligated by the structure of the global economy to play the role of raw material suppliers. However, on the long term, the reduction of global asymmetries could not be satisfactorily put into practice against rich states, but only with them as partners. Emanuel Copilaș 24 Methodological Aspects Beside the handy ideological explanations, it is certainly intriguing how a socialist country with problems relating to late and accelerated industrialization decided to place such an emphasis on its 'unshaken friendship' with poor, unstable and mostly political unpredictable Third World countries, many of them lacking even a basic infrastructure. Therefore, the proposed research questions are the following: isn't RSR's drive towards the Third World motivated, at least partially, by Ceaușescu's ambition to achieve an important symbolic capital in international relations? Were the material aspects of this relation really rewarding, in the light of the institutional and administrative turmoil existing in the newly independent African countries? Last but not least, what role could we ascribe to ideological tenets in understanding the complex and often contradictory role RSR aspired to play in the development of post-colonial Africa? The working hypotheses I advance are strongly intertwined with the research questions presented above. Namely, that RSR's interests in the Third World were both pragmatic and symbolic, on one hand, and that between Romanian national-communism and some post-colonial branches of African nationalism a powerful and compelling ideological common ground existed, on the other hand. Regarding the research steps, they are outlined as follows. First, I discuss concepts like nonalignment and the 'new world order' and their relevance for RSR and the Third World countries regarding their postures on the international scene. Second, I advance a concise theoretical presentation of concepts like 'blackness' and 'consciencism,' focusing on how Romanian national-communism strived to construe ideological ties in their direction, insisting especially on the last one. Third, before the conclusions section, I once again bring into discussion the 'new world order' and how it applied to RSR's struggling endeavor to be accepted as a full member of the 'group of 77.' Ideological and comparative analyses are the main methodological tools used to outline the hypotheses, the conclusions and the overall scientific argumentation put to work in this article. Contiguously, critical discourse analysis or radical constructivism are also important for shedding light on how RSR and some African Third World countries articulated their identities with reference to present political and geopolitical stakes. Some of the most important findings of the paper consist in pinpointing the congruency between Romanian industrial development plans and Third World's objective of post-colonial reconstruction. Basically, Romania was, for its entire modern procommunist history, an agrarian periphery acting as a supplier of cheap cereals, natural resources and workforce for the West European capital. In this regard, RSR perceived in the national liberation struggle of the young African nations its own hypertrophied past of struggles, heroes, betrays and malicious foreign powers. Consequently, historical empathy gave way to ideological synergy, as both parts tried to obtain more maneuvering space with Third World Themes in the International Politics of the Ceaușescu Regime 25 reference to their specific hegemonic powers: The Third World in relation with Western Europe and the United States, and RSR in relation with the USSR, in the first place but, as the economic crises of the 1970s and 1980s unfolded, in relation with Western powers as well. The RSR – Third World alliance was far more than a simple, occasional collaboration between states sharing exclusively common external objectives. It was, even if lacking any chance of success, an attempt of starting a counter-hegemonic movement in world politics, one in which the 'chauvinism of great power,' as it was called in RSR, would be contested and rejected to the end, even if the great power was the United States, the Soviet Union or, to a lesser extent, the European Economic Community. Literature Review Surprisingly, the scientific literature on the Romanian-Third World relations is considerably small even before the end of the Cold War. Afterwards, it is almost absent, with the notable exception of Thomas Barnet's book, the first and, until now, only one dedicated entirely to RSR's connections with the global South, a first class politological analysis of the subject. Of course, there is no shortage of national-communist propaganda, some of it intelligently and interestingly written. Reaching well beyond propaganda is Ioan Roșu-Hamzescu's book Formarea cadrelor naționale în țările în curs de dezvoltare, which offers an interesting insight in RSR's major contribution to the technical education of future engineers or doctors from different African countries. Furthermore, although adopting the official national-communist rhetoric, Ilie Șerbănescu's articles are incisive, pertinent and they definitely point out the shortcomings of the international political economy during the 1980s, by far a creation of the highly developed Western world. Another relevant work is that of Voiculescu Marin and Voiculescu Elena, Renașterea Africană (1979), which discusses in length the ideological affinities between Third World national ideologies and Romanian national-communism. A useful working instrument is Dragoș Gheorghe's chrestomathy Gândirea politică africană. Antologie (1982). Outside Romania, important scientific articles on the topic were written by Robert King and Collin Lawson, both insisting on the political and diplomatic aspects of the gradual rapprochement between communist Romania and African, SouthAmerican or Middle-Eastern countries amidst decades of mutual ignorance, distrust, or even hostility. Radio Free Europe's reports are excellent contemporary journalistic syntheses of the different turns and evolutions this political relationship undertook with the passing of the years. In post-communist Romania, one relevant article is that of Mihai Dinu Gheorghiu et al., „Les étudiants africains en Roumanie (1970‐1990). De l'internationalisme militant à la comercialisation des études" (2014). Then there is my own contributin from 2011, 'Aspects of a "brilliant assertion into the consciousness of the world". The Third World in Socialist Romania's foreign policy. Due to reasons of space and relevance, none of them was quoted in the present study. Emanuel Copilaș 26 I would emphasize that the present contribution is relevant because it insists on the importance of the ideological dimension in understanding the rest of the components that sum up RSR's one of a kind partnership with Third World countries, especially African ones. In communist Romania, ideology was not simply a disposable layer which the regime could conveniently pt one and take off whenever the international situation called for it. On the contrary, nationalcommunism was firmly embedded in the internal and international practice of the political elite. Only Thomas Barnett's and Voiculescu Marin and Voiculescu Elena's books take this factor into account, but the last one is full with propagandistic clichés, while the first one, although excellent from many point of view, does not satisfactorily discuss concepts like 'consciencism' or 'blackness' and does not use at all critical discourse analysis or radical constructivism as methodologies. Although the present study makes use of these methodologies only tangentially, overall it does not adopt the positivist stance that Barnett's book does, preferring interpretative over causal explanations. From 'Blackness' to 'Consciencism': the Emergence of African Post-colonial Nationalism and Its Ideological Ties with Romanian National-communism Two of the most important ideologies of nonalignment, 'blackness' and 'consciencism' both emerged inside a violent and complex political space. The African decolonization process was abrupt and chaotic, concentrating itself on industrialization in the absence of infrastructure, technological know-how and education. Foreseeable, the result consisted in numerous economic and political crises, assassinations, and coup d'états (McWilliams and Piotrovski 1988, 232245). As an expression of this situation, political identities in the making were themselves contradictory, incompatible and many times simply incoherent. The main question of emerging nationalism was an unsurpassable one: were they products of European political culture or, although influenced by it, their roots were firmly grounded in pre-colonial African mythology? This puzzling dilemma was resolved by stating that the configuration of specific African political identities begun long ago before the European invasion which abruptly and irreversibly put an end to them. Although the new national revolutions were confined to a foreign territorial pattern, imposed by the former occupants, they were considered to be essentially original attempts to continue the lost legacy of pre-European African greatness (Voiculescu E. and Voiculescu M. 1979, 20‐26, 37‐38; Senghor 1986, 41‐42). African theorists distinguished between two main alternatives in the process of national edification. One was the tribe and the extended family as premises for the new nations. As we will see, this alternative will constitute the one of the main theoretical drives for 'blackness.' Acting as intermediary between local and national identities, these two pre-national identities also guaranteed an original theoretical model which excluded the unwanted intrusion of Western political concepts (Voiculescu E. and Voiculescu M. 1979, Third World Themes in the International Politics of the Ceaușescu Regime 27 51-54). The other condemned tribalism as a means of the former colonial powers to ideologically maintain Africa subordinated and easily exploitable. Tribalism obstructed the creation of powerful and homogenous African nations, an evolution that would have hindered the West's ambition within the Third World. Furthermore, tribalism was an alienated expression of the class struggle that nevertheless existed in Africa, despite apparent aspects that would have deemed it impossible. Intellectuals and politicians like Sékou Touré, Tom Mboya or Kwame Nkrumah argued, in Marxist-Leninist terms, that class struggle was a permanence of history and, in a specific form, it existed in Africa too, where a huge rural class lived along a small but rapidly growing proletarian class and an urban or rural bourgeoisie created to respond to the administrative needs of the former European colonists (Voiculescu E. and Voiculescu M. 1979, 40, 47-48, 5460). Both types of African nationalism, that we could name cultural nationalism and pro-communist nationalism, acted as 'ideologies of late industrialization' and were keen on obtaining the progress of this whole continent wronged by history either through the development of autochthonous cultural elements, either through a class struggle entailing the efforts of the rural class and of the proletariat against a bourgeoisie behaving as a transmission belt for colonial interests, a class struggle that would underline the newly found political independence with a more substantial economic one (Matossian in Hutchinson and Smith 1994, 218‐225; Cabral in Alcoff and Mendieta 2003, 55‐61). As expected, RSR supported the last version of African nationalism, the pro-communist one. Ghana's president Kwame Nkrumah was a fierce adept of nationalization, a process that would restore African dignity and its rightful possession of vast and diverse natural resources. Nkrumah criticized other theorists of 'patriarchal socialism' or 'African socialism' like Julius Nyerere or Léopold Sédar Senghor for denying class struggle and for insisting too much on Africa's cultural uniqueness, thus isolating it from the global class struggle against imperialism. While many African traditions were definitely worth keeping, other ones like rampant feudalism doubled by inequitable possession of land was not something to make Africans proud, Nkrumah argued. Due to theorists like Senghor, African socialism had lost its post war militancy and political relevance and became a mere cultural ornament for the personal ambitions of several theorists, among which Senghor was the most prominent. His concept of 'blackness' represented exactly this unwanted and pernicious culturalization of African socialism, rendering it as a mild and innocent form of claiming 'a place in the sun,' as the Chinese saying goes, for this continent ravaged by European capitalism in its most aggressive period. However, Africa cannot truly win its independence by appealing to the mercy of great powers; Africa needs to have its geopolitical and ideological rights recognized as an equal member of the global club of regions and continents (Marinescu 1986, 174‐175; Voiculescu E. and Voiculescu M. 1979, 103‐105, 109; Tănăsie in Popişteanu 1989, 149; Nkrumah 1973, 440‐445; Guibernau 1996, 124; Senghor 1986, 148). Emanuel Copilaș 28 As theorized by Nkrumah, 'consciencism,' represented a form of synthetic African dialectical materialism, one that would encompass Western, Islamic and Euro-Asiatic elements in order to offer Africa the political possibility to better grasp its position, advantages and perspectives on the world stage on the basis of an unique and non-recurring ontology. Consciencism was grounded in 'communalism,' an idealistic form of African society existent in pre-colonial Africa that was to be adapted to present day realities and needs, not mechanically and uncritically revived (Tănăsie în Sprinţeroiu et al. 1989, 148150; van den Boogard 2017, 50-51). Furthermore, in the new political environment made possible by consciencism, the liberal system of multiple parties and free elections would have been harmful for consolidating the independence of this ancestral continent due to the fact that it would have perpetuated Western foreign interferences in African internal affairs. Only the Leninist vanguard party was suitable for the historic mission of obtaining and strengthening Africa's independence in the context of internal and international class struggle (Nkrumah 1970, 100‐101; Voiculescu E. and Voiculescu M. 1979, 68‐79, 83). Socialists like Senghor repelled the authoritarian one-party system in favor of multipartidism and representative democracy based on free elections (Voiculescu E. and Voiculescu M. 1979, 1987; Senghor 1986, 148). This plural political system responded better to the needs of blackness, through which Senghor understood the overall cultural heritage of black people as manifested in their day to day existence. As ancient Greece offered the world reason, Africa offered the world blackness, a specific emotion deeply stratified within the historical and cultural layers of African becoming. Of course, Nkrumah fiercely rejected blackness as a cultural setback of African global political struggle, a totally useless, when not wholly dangerous, 'metaphysics of knowledge' (Nkrumah 1973, 443‐445; Marinescu 1986, 185‐187). Romanian national-communism was especially fond of consciencism. Both shared the adamant conviction in the Leninist party as vehicle of historical and social progress. Both were culturally eclectic and politically one-sided. As consciencism insisted on recuperating the African past in order to fit the present and future political struggles, Romanian national-communism also integrated a discursively articulated heroic past in order to legitimize the existing political regime. Unlike conservative nationalism, which valued above all the past, or liberal nationalism, placing emphasis first of all on culturally and institutionally construed citizenship, national-communism was very pragmatic oriented and in the same time extremely exclusivist: it aimed to mold a new type of nationalism centered around the Romanian Communist Party (RCP) in order to militantly inspire the population to assume the regime's developmental imperatives as its own. In the realm of international relations, Romanian national-communism did not benefit from the privileged discursive position it had within the Romanian borders; consequently, it was compelled to adopt more flexible discursive Third World Themes in the International Politics of the Ceaușescu Regime 29 strategies and to play the role of a global moralizer, secretly suffering because it was not a superpower (Popescu 1993, 307). Regarding blackness, the ideological substance of the concept was condescendingly considered as a 'petite-bourgeois' simulacra of a revolutionary notion, too much inclined towards the liberal political philosophy in order to count as truly relevant from an ideological standpoint. However, like in the case of Eurocommunism, while the political doctrines per se were treated with disbelief, their contextual political usefulness came handy on many occasions. Therefore, Senghor's works were translated in Romanian and he was esteemed as one of the most important and prolific theorist of African renewal. As the Romanian saying goes, make yourself brother with the devil until you cross the bridge. Forging the 'New International Order': An Overview of RSR's Acceptance into the Group of 77 As already mentioned in the introductive section of the paper, the nonaligned movement represented for the RSR not only an opportunity to maintain its dissident foreign policy, initiated in the 1960s, but also a means of legitimating the official discourse within the Romanian borders (Barnett 1992, 2). Mircea Malița, a Romanian diplomat with a prodigious career, remembers that RSR could have become a member of the group of 77 even from 1964, the year the group was constituted within the UN, but, in the context of its alienation with reference to the 'socialist camp,' the Romanian leadership preferred to maintain its attention on European political problems and especially on USSR (Malița 2015, 349-350). Despite their diplomatic and ideological closeness, RSR and the other EastEuropean regimes were competing with Third World countries when it came to the access of their products to the Western markets. Far from being worried by this evolution of the relations between East-European regimes and the Third World countries, the Soviet Union derived some advantages from it. First of all, Moscow could easily retract the assistance offered to a Third World state in case of civil war or in case of a hostile Western reaction – without entirely eliminating the communist influence from the region. Next, the Soviet assistance was made more efficient by the fact that Czechslovakia's military technology and the German Democratic Republic's (GDR) communicational abilities were promptly put to its disposal. Furthermore, through the participation of the East-European regimes in helping Third World countries, the pressure upon the Soviet budget oriented to the same goal was lowered. Finally, East-European assistance attenuated the sensation that the Soviet Union involves itself with Third World countries just to military compete with the West (Barnett 1992, 14-17). RSR signed more treaties of friendship and cooperation with Third World countries than the Soviet Union did and also emphasized itself among the other East-European regimes in this regard, leading Thomas Barnett to affirm that the RSR – which named itself starting with 1972, in order to underline its solidarity Emanuel Copilaș 30 with the nonaligned movement, a 'socialist developing country' – aspired to become a bridge not only between East and West, but also between North and South. Comparing himself with Tito or Mao, Ceaușescu "wanted to position himself with reference to Moscow as a natural leader of an increasingly radicalized and (possibly) socialist Third World. In this time, he planned to transform Romania into a 'Japan of Europe,' a middle sized state with great economic authority" (Barnett 1992, 47; see also Linden 1987, 58-59; King 1978, 879). But, at the end of the 1970s, in the context of an alarming increase in oil prices, of the oscillations of the international economy and of some uninspired investments, the relations between RSR and the Third World began to visibly diminish in terms of commercial volume, despite keeping the bombastic rhetoric against imperialism and neocolonialism. Maoism represented for the RSR the main ideological inspiration source in the process of its rapprochement with the Third World. Romanian nationalcommunism also borrowed from Maoism numerous defining elements: militant art and literature, voluntarism, romanticism, the correctness and responsibility of activists, indispensable for a proper construction of socialism, hostility towards anarchic manifestations and towards erroneously understood liberty, in the absence of necessity to which liberty is connected within every phase of the advancement of history upon revolutionary coordinates, respectively the critique of bureaucracy and small-bourgeois commodity which alters the revolutionary spirit of the party (Tsetung 1971, 134-136, 275, 368-369, 437, 445; Țze-Dun 1955, 347-348). Ceaușescu also inspired himself from the propaganda and ideology of North Koreea (Sung 1976, 588-593), also derived from Maoism. Maoism – which, as James Gregor points out, through its 'reactive and developmental nationalism' aiming to mobilize the 'masses' in the name of national rebirth, for too long obstructed by what Mao named the 'foreign national yoke,' and by dividing nations between 'proletarian' and 'bourgeois' and discursively creating a global conflict which will eventually end with the victory of the first – becomes intelligible with the help of fascist rather than Marxist theories (Gregor 2000, 207-208; Țze-Dun 1957, 506-507). Regarding the Third World, the Chinese communists affirmed even from the end of the 1940s, an opinion that later made its way into the RSR (Voiculescu and Voiculescu 1979, 58-60; see also Marinescu quoted in Marinescu 1984, 141-143), that the effervescent nationalism manifested by the former European colonies, despite the fact of being 'bourgeois' in its essence is, in the global revolutionary equation, a progressive one, and thus needs to be supported by all (Chao-Tsi 1949, 43-44). Adopted as a UN program in 1974 at the initiative of the nonaligned movement (Senghor quoted in Dragoș 1982, 375), the new international order foresaw the attenuation and finally the elimination of the economic disparities existent between North and South through intensifying the efforts against colonialism, which obstructed the emergence of a much more fair international Third World Themes in the International Politics of the Ceaușescu Regime 31 status-quo (Stanciu 1979, 65-70; Giorgios quoted in Dragoș 1982, 156-157). The new instruments of colonialism, more efficient than military intimidation and direct economic exploitation, were multinational companies. These were guilty for threatening the independence of the young developing states through neglecting and even intensifying the social problems which already existed there, through supporting the reactionary forces from these countries, blackmailing them to obtain new concessions in order not to move their business elsewhere and, in general, deepening the Thirld World's dependence on Western capital (Bogdan quoted in Florea, Duculescu and Opaschi 1982, 251-253; Moise quoted in Florea, Duculescu and Opaschi 1982, 269-277; Seftiuc quoted in Florea, Duculescu and Opaschi 1982, 354; Elian 1977, 125-139). However, the economic and demographic growth rates of the South were growing, and the prognoses for the year 2000 anticipated new quantitative jumps of developing states which, RSR argued, had to be encouraged through a qualitative change of the international environment on the whole. And that could only mean one thing: the implementation of the new international order. Due to an efficient and assertive diplomacy, RSR signed numerous treaties with African states, in which it committed to financially and materially contribute to their independence (see Vais 2012, 433-451). Few of these treaties entailed concrete benefits, at least until the end of the 1970s when, due to the recession of the global economy and the increase of oil prices, Romania started to massively invest in sub-Saharan Africa in order to gain access to the cheap energy sources and markets from the region (Romanian industrial products being refused, due to their low quality, more and more on the western markets). Joint societies were created, in which the Romanian part contributed with technology, experts and capital, and the African part with the working force and raw materials. In this way, RSR could sell some products on the western markets, these being presented as made in Africa. But when, due to international economic conditions, the States of the Third World asked for more concessions from the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) member states, the RSR opposed, arguing that the responsibility for economic development belongs to each nation individually (Barnett 1992, 67-68; Roșu-Hamzescu 1979, 119120). On the other hand, one cannot deny that RSR substantially contributed to the financial help of the Third World countries, especially before becoming a member of the 'group of 77' (1976), providing almost a third of the amount granted by all East-European regimes. For RSR's budget, the numbers were impressive: Argentina and Algeria – 100 million dollars (1972); Brasil 180 million dollars (1975); Egypt – 230 million dollars (1972-1974); Iran – 135 million dollars (1968-1969); Syria – 170 million dollars (1971-1974); Guinea – 80 million dollars (1974) (SR/Romania: 22 December 1975, 1-8; „România şi schimburile...": 2 April 1975, 7). RCP even created a "solidarity and support fund of the national liberation movements, of the young independent states" and "of Emanuel Copilaș 32 developing countries," an initiative "received with warm approbation by the Romanian people" (Botoran and Unc 1977, 227). RSR's support was not limited to the financial component, but expanded towards forming the 'cadres' specialized in different fields of industrial engineering that would have built afterwards socialism in their origin countries, thus ensuring their prosperity and independence (Roșu-Hamzescu 1979, 111-122; Dezvoltarea colaborării și solidarității... 1978, 21-22). As a self-proclaimed socialist developing country, the RSR had greatly to suffer from the global recession that occurred at the end of the 1970s: the massive industrialization policies, way beyond the country's real possibilities, now proved, along with the growing fuel prices RSR had to import sometimes from thousands of miles away, their lack of inspiration. The short term solution resided in borrowing money from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, a fact which further deepened the country's foreign debt because, during crises, the interest rates of money go up. Confronted with this disappointing solution, for which the West bears the major responsibility, Ceaușescu blamed the 'neocolonialist interest rates' which only limited the progress chances of developing countries and deepened the inequalities between the West and the Third (Cercelescu in Practici imperialiste...: 1982, 133). For Third World countries, the situation was even worse. Practically, at the end of the 1950s, "a field car could be bought by a Latin-American with the equivalent of 124 coffee bags, and today (1977, my note) it necessitates the equivalent of 344 coffee bags. A rubber exporting country could purchase, in 1960, with 25 tons of products, 6 tractors, and today only 2 tractors"(Popescu quoted in Mitran and Lotreanu 1977, 47). In order to combat these worrying tendencies, RSR proposed the reconfiguring of interest rates as follows: 5% for developing countries and credits without interest rates or with a maximum interest rate of 2-3% for the less developed countries. On the whole, it was desirable that "the maximum level of the interest rate not to grow beyond 8%" (Șerbănescu in Practici imperialiste... 1982, 108). Indeed, beside the propagandistic exacerbation, the situation was alarming. In 1970, for example, from the loans contracted by developing countries (14, 3 billion dollars), only 45% were effectively cashed by these, "the rest representing interest rates, commissions and due rates of previous loans, while in 1980, from the 96,5 billion dollars, only 30% entered into the possession of the debtors"(Stănescu in Practici imperialiste...: 1982, 139). Due to the combined pressures of developing countries within the UN, the interest rates begun to diminish in the second half of the 1980s. But the prospects still remain worrying for debtors, because the number of credits with variable interest rates went up while the reimbursement terms of the credits went down. It is clear now that RSR's situation progressively deteriorated during the 1980s and the alliance with the nonaligned movement started to become a real burden. But the circumstances through which the rapprochement between RSR Third World Themes in the International Politics of the Ceaușescu Regime 33 and the nonaligned movement occurred were very much different. Presenting itself as a 'developing socialist country,' RSR took into account not only a global political stake – the continuation of its dissident foreign policy – but also an economic stake at a regional scale. In 1971, the European Community announced some concessions to the imports from developing countries, namely Third World countries, a development that greatly interested the Romanian leadership. In order to legitimate its new position, RSR begun the adhering procedures to the 'group of 77' (Lawson 1983, 366; King 1978, 880-882, Căpățînă, Miga-Beșteliu and Tănăsescu 1973, 38-39). Emphasizing the velocity and the efficiency with which it built socialism, RSR tried to become, as we have seen, a model for Third World countries, for economic reasons (obtaining facilities at the exports for Western markets), for political reasons (maintaining and consolidating its dissidence towards Moscow) and nevertheless for ideological and historical reasons (the affirmation of independence and of the national state as the main actor of the new international order and of the similarities between the present of Third World peoples and the past of the Romanian people, on its turn subjugated by oppressive empires) (see Politica externă... 1972, 129-130; Vadim Tudor 1983, 237; Caraciuc 1974, 72-73; Lache quoted in Mitran and Lotreanu 1977, 430). Later, both before and after RSR became a member of the 'group of 77,' numerous African leaders, motivated, among other things, by Ceaușescu's consistent financial help, referred to him, among others, as an 'example' from which they could can learn a lot 'in elaborating their way (...) to socialism' (Solidaritate militantă... 1977, 77, 25, 109; Bourguiba Jr. 1968, 9; Bourguiba 1968, 6-7; Okumba D'Okwatsegue 1975, 8-9; Malecela 1974, 7-8; Voiculescu and Voiculescu 1979, 117-118). RSR's integration into the 'group of 77' represented the most credible moment in its campaign to present itself as a 'socialist developing country' (Barnett 1992, 62), being the result of a long and laborious process entailed in 1964. But "the group was organized in regional sections, Asian, African and Latin-American, and Romania was not acceptable for none of these sections. Doubts regarding the acceptance of non-regional members, Romania's motives, the effect which its position as a CMEA member would have had upon the group's negotiation possibilities, led to its rejection" (Lawson 1983, 365). Encouraged by the fact that Yugoslavia was included in the group, in the Asian section, being also a member of the nonaligned movement, RSR perseverated, constantly supporting the group within the UN (Nicolae 2000, 171-172). In 1976, the Latin-American section of the group announced its intention to include RSR in the case it had no pretention to take part in the 'specific decisions of the countries from this area.' But the Arab states manifested their opposition, due to the fact that RSR was not present to the voting, within the UN, of a resolution incriminating Zionism; wishing to maintain good relations with Israel, RSR was absent and the resolution was not adopted. Next, the African countries opposed, along with Yugoslavia. As independent and nonaligned the RSR pretended to be, Emanuel Copilaș 34 its affiliation to CMEA and the Warsaw Treaty Organization (WTO) undoubtedly transformed it into a promoter of the policies of the 'socialist bloc' (Nicolae 2000, 174; Gafton and the Romanian Section 23 May 1979, 7-8). Finally, the efforts of Romanian diplomats paid and RSR was accepted into the 'group of 77.' The event was emphatically presented in the Romanian press and in the foreign affairs books and propaganda materials, RSR's new found quality confirming "a principle convincingly supported by our party, by its general secretary namely that it does not exist and it cannot exist a reason for which a socialist country being in the same time a developing country not to act as a member of the 'Group of 77'" (Ene and Bogdan in Ene 1985, 209). Or, in other words, "the essential resides not in the appurtenance or non-appurtenance to different politicalmilitary groups, but in the positions and way of action of states for the affirmation of the new international relations, in actively promoting the principles of peaceful coexistence, of the essential objectives, of the cause of peace, independence sovereignty, tempering and international collaboration" (Sprințeroiu in Popişteanu: 1989, 30; see also SR/ Romania 19 August 1976, 2 and Ciorănescu 1976, 1-8). Concluding Remarks Although economic pragmatism was the main drive behind RSR's decision to improve its relations with the Third Word during the 1970s, ideological considerations played an important role in this process. Romanian nationalcommunism aimed to influence national-liberation movements, to export in the area its own 'revolutionary' model, different from that of the Soviet Union. Its failure has a lot to do with the internal flaws of the model itself, but also with external factors such as the oil crises from 1973 and 1979. Overall, raw materials from the Third World represented an important supply alternative for a highly industrialized RSR in a more and more unstable economic world, while the Romanian know-how and industrial technology benefited the young independent states in the process of consolidating their independence. The relation was mutually satisfactorily until the 1980s neoliberalism drove both parties to more precautious international economic approaches, shattering their dreams of authentic independence, on one hand, respectively RSR's ambition to become a middle-sized power acting as a natural leader of a radicalized nationalrevolutionary global movement, on the other hand. This article insisted on how material factors intertwined with ideological factors in making possible the complicated and sinuous rapprochement between RSR and the African Third World countries, pinpointing that national-communist ideology was not a facile camouflage for an otherwise pragmatic and ruthless political elite, but was inscribed into its cognitive, epistemological and behavioral code. Future research should take into account to a greater extent empirical factors and, maybe, concentrate on more particular issues, such as RSR's relations with one or two Third World countries, or maybe the whole Third World Themes in the International Politics of the Ceaușescu Regime 35 Third World, not only its African dimension. As a synoptic assessment of the subject, my study is unavoidable improvable when it comes to empirical issues and the it could also be vulnerable due to its systematic reliance on arguments based ultimately on generalizations, maybe even some risky ones. References „România şi schimburile comerciale Est-Vest" [Romania and the East-West Commercial Exchanges].1975. I.D., Q-376, R., 2 April. Confidential Radio Free Europe Report, Open Society Archives. „Rumanian Credits to Other Countries". 1975. Situation Report. Romania, no. 180, 22 December. Arhiva 1989. „Situation Report. Romania". 1976. Radio Free Europe Research, no. 28, 19 August. Arhiva 1989. Ahidjo, Ahmadou. 1982. „Raport politic al Uniunii Cameruneze" [Political Account of the Camerunese Union]. In Gândirea Politică Africană. Antologie [African Political Thinking. Anthology], edited by Gheorghe Dragoș, 87-92. București: Editura Politică. Barnett, Thomas. 1992. Romanian and East German Policies in the Third World. Comparing the Strategies of Ceaușescu and Honecker. Westport, London: Praeger Publishers. Bogdan, Corneliu. 1982. „Națiunea și forțele transnaționale" [Nation and the Transnational Forces]. In Națiunea și Statul în Relațiile Internaționale [Nation and the State in International Relations], edited by Ion Florea, Victor Duculescu, and Victor Opaschi, 245-258. București: Editura Politică. Botoran, Constantin and Gheorghe Unc. 1977. Tradiţii de solidaritate ale mişcării muncitoreşti şi democratice din România cu lupta de emancipare naţională şi socială a popoarelor din Asia, Africa şi America Latină [Solidarity Traditions of Romania's Working and Democratic Movement with the Struggle for National and Social Emancipation of the Peoples from Asia, Africa and Latin America]. București: Editura Politică. Bourguiba, Jr. Habib. 1968. „Normele de bază ale relațiilor amicale" [Basic Norms of Friendly Relations]. Lumea [The World] 37: 9. Bourguiba, Habib. 1968. „Demnitatea unui stat nu este condiționată de proporțiile teritoriului ori ale populației" [The Dignity of a State is Not Conditioned by the Proportions of Its Territory or Nopulation]. Lumea [The World] (30): 6-7. Cabral, Amilcar. 2003. „Identity and Dignity in the Context of the National Liberation Struggle". In Identities. Race, Class, Gender, and Nationality, edited by Linda Martin Alcoff and Eduardo Mendieta, 55-61. Malden, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Căpățînă, Octavian, Raluca Miga-Beșteliu, and Victor Tănăsescu. 1973. Republica Socialistă România în organizații economice internaționale [The Socialist Emanuel Copilaș 36 Republic of Romania in Economic International Organizations]. București: Editura Politică. Caraciuc, Traian. 1974. România – factor activ al progresului contemporan. Opinii externe [Romania – an Active Factor of Contemporary Progress. Foreign Opinions]. București: Editura Politică. Cercelescu, Gheorghe. 1982. „Creșterea exagerată a dobânzilor – o nouă formă de spoliere a țărilor în curs de dezvoltare" [The Exaggerated Growth of Interest Rates – a New Form of Spoliating the Developing Countries]. In Practici imperialiste de jaf și exploatare. Furtul creierelor. Dobânzi de tip neocolonialist [Imperialist Practices of Pillaging and Exploitation. The Theft of brains. Neocolonialist Interest Rates], 130-134. București: Editura Politică. Chao-Tsi, Liu. 1949. Despre Internaționalism și Naționalism [On Internationalism and Nationalism]. București: Editura Partidului Muncitoresc Român. Ciorănescu, George. 1976. „Rumania and the nonaligned countries". Background Report, Romania. no. 170, 4 August, Arhiva 1989. Dezvoltarea colaborării şi solidarităţii Partidului Comunist Român cu partidele comuniste şi muncitoreşti, cu partidele socialiste şi social-democrate, cu alte partide şi organizaţii democratice, progresiste, cu partide de guvernământ, cu toate forţele antiimperialiste de pretutindeni [The Development of Collaboration and Solidarity of the Romanian Communist Party with Communist and Workers Parties, with Socialist and Social-democratic Parties, with Other Parties and Democratic, Progressist Organizations, with Government Parties, with All Antiimperialist Forces from Everywhere].1978. București: Editura Politică. Elian, George. 1977. Suveranitatea permanentă asupra resurselor naționale și implicațiile sale internaționale [Permanent Sovereignty over National Resources and Its International Implications]. București: Editura Politică. Ene, Constantin; Bogdan, Radu. 1985. „Instituirea unei noi ordini economice internaţionale şi lichidarea subdezvoltării" [The Institution of a New International Economic Order and the Liquidation of Underdevelopment]. În România. Douăzeci de ani de diplomaţie multilaterală [Romania. Twenty Years of Multilateral Diplomacy], edited by Constantin Ene, 191-228. București: Editura Politică. Gafton, Paul and the Romanian Section. 1979. „Romania's Presence in Black Africa". Background Report. Romania, no. 118, 23 May 1979. Arhiva 1989. Giorgios, Gedle. 1982. „Pentru respectarea drepturilor fundamentale ale tuturor popoarelor" [For Respecting the Fundamental Rights of All Peoples]. In Gândirea Politică Africană. Antologie [African Political Thinking. Anthology], edited by Gheorghe Dragoș, 156-168. București: Editura Politică. Gregor, James. 2000. A Place in the Sun. Marxism and Fascism in China's Long Revolution. Boulder: Westview Press. Third World Themes in the International Politics of the Ceaușescu Regime 37 Guibernau, Montserrat. 1996. Nationalisms. The Nation‐State and Nationalism in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Polity Press. King, Robert. 1978. „Romania and the third world". Orbis (4): 875-892. Lache, Ștefan. 1977. „Afirmarea independenței naționale a României în anii revoluției popular-democratice și ai socialismului" [The Affirmation of the National Independence of Romania in the Years of Popular-democratic Evolution and of Socialism]. In Națiune, suveranitate, independență: studii și comunicări [Nation, sovereignty, independence. Studies and communications], edited by I. Mitran, and N. Lotreanu, 416-431. București: Editura Politică. Lawson, Collin. 1983. „National Independence and Reciprocal Advantages: the Political Economy of Romanian-South Relations". Soviet Studies (3): 362375. Linden, Ronald. 1987. Communist States and International Change. Romania and Yugoslavia in Comparative Perspective. London, Sydney, Wellington: Allen &Unwin. Malecela, John Samuel. 1974. „Poporul nostru este deosebit de impresionat de personalitatea președintelui Ceaușescu" [Our People is Highly Impressed by the Personality of President Ceaușescu]. Lumea [The World] (43): 7-8. Malița, Mircea. 2015. Secolul meu scurt [My Short Century]. București: RAO Publishing House. Marinescu, Gheorghe Constantin. 1984. „Valențe ale conștiinței naționale în lumea contemporană" [Valences of National Conscience in the Contemporary World]. In Conștiință și Progres [Consciousness and Progress], edited by Gheorghe Constantin Marinescu and Constantin Vlad, 129-152. Iași: Editura Junimea. Marinescu, Gheorghe Constantin. 1986. Naţiunea şi conştiinţa naţională în lumea contemporană [Nation and National Consciousness in the Contemporary World]. Iaşi: Editura Junimea. Matossian, Mary. 1994. „Ideologies of Delayed Development". Nationalism, edited by J. Hutchinson and A. Smith, 218‐225. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. McWilliams, Wayne and Harry Piotrowski. 1988. The World since 1945. Politics, War and Revolution in the Nuclear Age. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. Moise, Aurelian. 1982. „Corporațiile transnaționale și suveranitatea statelor naționale" [Transnational Corporations and the Sovereignty of National States]. In Națiunea și Statul în Relațiile Internaționale [Nation and the State in International Relations], edited by I. Florea, V. Duculescu, and V. Opaschi, 259-278. București: Editura Politică. Neto, Agostinho. 1982. „Câteva aspecte ale luptei de eliberare națională în faza sa actuală" [Some Aspects of the National Liberation Struggle in Its Current Emanuel Copilaș 38 Phase]. In Gândirea Politică Africană. Antologie [African Political Thinking. Anthology], edited by Gheorghe Dragoș, 45-55. București: Editura Politică. Nicolae, Nicolae. 2000. O lume aşa cum am cunoscut-o. Amintirile unui fost ambasador al României [A World as I Knew It. The Memories of a Former Ambassador of Romania]. București: Editura Pro Domo. Nkrumah, Kwame. 1970. Consciencism. Philosophy and Ideology for Decolonization. New York: Monthly Review Press. Nkrumah, Kwame. 1973. Revolutionary Path. London: Panaf Books. Okumba D'Okwatsegue, Paul. 1975. „Gabonul admiră dinamismul României și înțelepciunea politicii președintelui Nicolae Ceaușescu" [Gabon Admires the Dynamism of Romania and the Wisdom of the Politics of President Nicolae Ceaușescu]. Lumea [The World] (20): 8-9. Politica externă a României socialiste [The Foreign Policy of Socialist Romania]. 1972. București: Editura Politică. Popescu, Maria. 1977. „Statele naționale și noua ordine economic și politică internațională" [National States and the New Economic and Political International Order]. In Națiune, suveranitate, independență: studii și comunicări [Nation, Sovereignty, Independence. Studies and Communications], edited by Ion Mitran and Nicolae Lotreanu, 43-52. București: Editura Politică. Quenum, Bienvenu Sébastien. 1969. „Optsprezece țări afro-malgașe decepționate de 'Piața Comună'" [Eighteen Afro-Malgasian Countries Deceptioned by the 'Common Market']. Lumea [The World] (51): 18-19. Roșu-Hamzescu, Ion. 1979. Formarea cadrelor naționale în țările în curs de dezvoltare [The Development of National Personnel in Developing Countries] Craiova: Editura Scrisul Românesc. Seftiuc, Ilie. 1982. „Aspecte privind prezența activă a națiunilor latino-americane în viața internațională" [Aspects regarding the Active Presence of LatinAmerican Nations in International Life]. In Națiunea și Statul în Relațiile Internaționale [Nation and the State in International Relations], edited by I. Florea, V. Duculescu, and V. Opaschi, 350-367. București: Editura Politică. Senghor, Léopold Sédar. 1982. „Africa și noua ordine economică mondială" [Africa and the New Economic World Order]. In Gândirea Politică Africană. Antologie [African Political Thinking. Anthology], edited by Gheorghe Dragoș, 374-380. București: Editura Politică. Senghor, Léopold Sédar. 1986. De la negritudine la civilizaţia universalului [From Blackness to the Civilization of the Universal]. București: Editura Univers. Șerbănescu, Ilie. 1982. „Sub semnul exigenței unor relații economice noi, echitabile" [Under the Sign of the Exigency of New, Equitable Economic Relations]. In Practici imperialiste de jaf și exploatare. Furtul creierelor; Dobânzi de tip neocolonialist [Imperialist Practices of Pillaging and Exploitation. The Theft of Brains. Neocolonialist Interest Rates], 101-109. București: Editura Politică. Third World Themes in the International Politics of the Ceaușescu Regime 39 Solidaritate militantă. Întâlniri şi convorbiri ale preşedintelui Republicii Socialiste România, Nicolae Ceauşescu, cu şefii de stat ai Guineii-Bissau, Senegalului, Siriei, R.P. Benin şi cu preşedintele Comitetului Executiv al Organizaţiei pentru Eliberarea Palestinei, în perioada aprilie 1976 – februarie 1977 [Militant Solidarity. Meetings and Talks of the President of Socialist Republic of Romania, Nicolae Ceaușescu, with Heads of States of Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Syria, The Popular Republic of Benin and with the President of the Executive Committee of Palestine Liberation Organization]. 1977. București: Editura Politică. Sprințeroiu, George. 1985. Nealinierea în Confruntările Politice Contemporane [Nonalignment in Contemporary Political Confrontations]. București: Editura Politică. Sprinţeroiu, George. 1989. „România şi mişcarea de nealiniere" [Romania and the nonaligned movement]. In Independenţă, nealiniere, pace. Momente şi semnificaţii ale unei mişcări istorice a secolului XX [Independence, Nonalignment, Peace. Moments and Significations of a Historical Movement of the 21st century], edited by Cristian Popişteanu, 15-48. București: Editura Politică. Stanciu, Sorin. 1979. Noua ordine internațională (concept și acțiune) [The New International Order (Concept and Action)]. București: Editura Politică. Stănescu, N. S. 1982. „Dobânzile exagerate – mijloc de spoliere a statelor sărace" [Exaggerated Interest Rates – Means of Pillaging the Poor States]. In Practici imperialiste de jaf și exploatare. Furtul creierelor; Dobânzi de tip neocolonialist [Imperialist Practices of Pillaging and Exploitation. The Theft of Brains. Neocolonialist Interest Rates], 135-140. București: Editura Politică. Sung, Kim Il. 1976. „De L'Elimination du Bureaucratisme. Rapport présenté à la Session plénière du Comité Central du Parti du Travail de Corée. Le 1er avril 1955". In Oeuvres Choisies. Vol. I, 587-602. Pyongyang: Editions en Languages Etrangeres. Tănăsie, Petre. 1989. „Unitatea africană – calea către independenţă şi dezvoltare" [African Unity – the Path to Independence and Development]. In Independenţă, nealiniere, pace. Momente şi semnificaţii ale unei mişcări istorice a secolului XX [Independence, Nonalignment, Peace. Moments and Significations of a Historical Movement of the 21st Century], edited by Cristian Popişteanu, 141‐170. București: Editura Politică. Tsetung, Mao. 1971. Selected Readings from the Works of Mao Tsetung. Peking: Foreign Language Press. Țurlea, Stelian. 1970. „Africa. Interese proprii și interese străine" [Africa. Its Own Interests and Foreign Interests]. Lumea [The World] (9): 19-20. Țze-Dun, Mao. 1955. „Locul Partidului Comunist Chinez în Războiul Național (Octombrie 1938)" [The Place of the Chinese Communist Party in the Emanuel Copilaș 40 National War (October 1938)] . In Opere Alese [Selected readings]. Vol. II, 341-370. București: Editura pentru Literatură Politică. Țze-Dun, Mao. 1957. „Despre un Guvern de Coaliție (24 aprilie 1945)" [About a Coalition Government (24 April 1945)]. In Opere Alese [Selected readings]. Vol. IV, 457-574. București: Editura pentru Literatură Politică. Vadim Tudor, Corneliu. 1983. Istorie și Civilizație. [History and Civilization]. București: Editura Eminescu. Vais, Dana. 2012. „Exporting Hard Modernity: Construction Projects from Ceaușescu's Romania in the 'Third World'". The Journal of Architecture (3): 433-451. Van den Boogard, Vanessa. 2017. „Modern Post-colonial Approaches to Citizenship: Kwame Nkrumah's Political Thought on Pan-Africanism". Citizenship Studies (1): 44-67. Voiculescu, Elena and Marin Voiculescu. 1979. Renașterea Africană [African Renewal]. București: Editura Politică.