'Europe's Black Hole': Identidade e (in)Existência na Transnístria

Abstract

This work intends to analyze the construction process of transnistrian identity in the post Cold War in order to seek a better understanding of the conditions that allow the maintenance of elements of the Soviet imaginary in the XXI century and therefore foment the continuity of the separatist conflict. Through a historical analysis of the relationship between the two parties involved it is possible to determine the influence of the main contexts and regional aspects on the rivalry pointed out. In this context, the policies implemented as a way of guaranteeing governability to the USSR in the midst of the multiethnicity of the peoples that constitute it play a central role not only as a catalyst for the litigation but also as a foundational element of the Moldovan and Transnistrian identities. The vacuum of power left by the dissolution of the soviet bloc would then create the conditions upon which both the actors would initiate their state (re)construction projects. These works, in short, would be marked by the persecution of the creation of solid and forceful national identities, a process that would be accompanied by the establishment of new singular forms and political and social organization. It is due, therefore, to the overlapping of these events that Transnistria has maintained a typical soviet symbology whose apparent anachronism will be demystified throughout this monograph. Through a brief theoretical exposition about the role of national identities in structuring and in the very existence of the state, I will finally begin discussions of a historical nature that will allow the conclusion that the uniqueness of Transnistrian identity is closely linked to the identity politics of Moldova.