Making Moldova Great Again?

The Republic of Moldova is a small country in Eastern Europe, which has become one of the front lines in the clash between Russia and the West. One of the ways in which geopolitics manifests itself in this small country is in populist domestic politics. Political movements in support of joining a Russialed Customs Union and calling for eventual unification with Romania have both been popular as Moldova and its residents have struggled to find their own political and national identity. Politicians seek to focus voters' attention on abstract issues such as the name of the language spoken in the country or its geopolitical orientation, which only serves to divide society more deeply, rather than address basic governance issues and the country's endemic corruption. Many have chosen to leave the country in search of a better future elsewhere and those who stay are increasingly assaulted by polarizing political rhetoric asking them to choose between mutually exclusive visions of the country's history and its future.

Figure 1.

Young women wearing t-shirts supporting the pro-Russian Socialist Party, Chisinau, September 2014. (NG)

Figure 2.

At a concert of Russian pop stars organized by the Socialist Party on Chisinau's main square, September 2014. (NG)

Figure 3.

At a concert of Russian pop stars organized by the Socialist Party on Chisinau's main square, September 2014. The banner above the stage reads "Moldova together with a strong Russia!" (NG)

Figure 4.

Advertising for Renato Usatyi's "Our Party," with the tagline, "You decide, and we do it!" The poster depicts Usatyi, who was elected Mayor of Moldova's second-largest city, Balti, in June 2015 but has been in Moscow under threat of arrest since October 2016; together with Ilian Casu, a party member who studied in the United States and was elected to the Chisinau Municipal Council in June 2015. (LA)

Figure 5.

Three boys by the roadside in Rascani region. Thousands of Moldovan children grow up with one or both parents living in Russia or Europe as labor migrants. From 2006 through 2015, the percentage of Moldova's GDP attributable to remittances averaged 28.5%. (NG)

Figure 6.

Riot police barricade the Moldovan Parliament building against protesters on October 15, 2015, when former Prime Minister Vlad Filat was taken into custody on corruption charges directly from the Parliament floor. In the background is the Presidency building, which has been shuttered and unused since it was damaged in riots in April 2009. (LA)

Figure 7.

A billboard advertising an unemployment hotline reading, "Do not leave! There are jobs!" outside a Russian military compound in Tiraspol, the capital of Transdniestria, a breakaway region supported by Russia. Just as in the rest of Moldova, many able-bodied adults from Transdniestria have departed as labor migrants. (LA)

Figure 8.

Flags and ribbons for sale near Chisinau's main square illustrate the demand for various identities and geopolitical orientations. (LA)

Figure 9.

Children play on the pedestal of a World War II memorial depicting a Soviet Red Army soldier in Comrat, capital of Gagauzia, an autonomous region in the south of the country. (LA)

Figure 10.

A statue of Lenin faces off with a campaign billboard for Igor Smirnov, the long-time leader of Transdniestria, which reads "The Republic is not for sale!" in Ukrainian. Smirnov lost the 2011 election to Yevgeny Shevchuk, who was himself turned out of office by voters in late 2016. (LA)

Figure 11.

Billboards in September 2014...