A.C. POPOVICI AND HIS INTERPRETATION OF NATIONALISM AND DEMOCRACY

• Published in: Analele Universitǎti̧i "Constantin Brâncuşi" din Târgu Jiu. Serie Litere și Ştiinţe Sociale 2021 (1), p.81-90
• Main Author: Murariu, Mihai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Democracy; Elites; Ideology; Modernity; Nationalism; Nationalism Studies; Political Philosophy; Politics
• ISSN: 1844-6051; 2344-3677

THIS PAPER WILL PORTRAY SOME OF THE FUNDAMENTAL TRAITS ENCOUNTERED IN THE WORK OF A. C. POPOVICI REGARDING THE TENSIONS BETWEEN NATIONALISM AND DEMOCRACY. CULTURED, CONTROVERSIAL, RELENTLESS, AND HIGHLY COMBATIVE IN HIS CONDUCT THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE, POPOVICI WAS, AT THE SAME TIME, A COMPLEX THINKER, WHO SOUGHT TO PROMOTE A SOCIAL AND POLITICAL COUNTER-MODEL THAT WOULD PREVENT WHAT HE SAW AS THE LEVELLING INFLUENCE OF DEMOCRATIC MASS POLITICS, AS WELL AS THE ULTIMATE COLLAPSE OF THE NATION. THIS PAPER WILL FIRSTLY EXPLORE THE RECEPTION OF HIS SECOND MAJOR WORK, NATIONALISM OR DEMOCRACY, BOTH DURING HIS LIFETIME AND FURTHER ON. SECONDLY, THE PAPER WILL DEPICT THE IDEOLOGICAL ROOTS OF POPOVICI’S WORK, IDENTIFYING SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES OF HIS THOUGHT. THIRDLY, THE PAPER WILL ALSO CONSIDER THE IDEOLOGICAL OPPOSITES TO POPOVICI’S VISION, WHICH FUELLED HIS PERSISTENT ATTEMPTS TO SET HIMSELF AGAINST THE INCREASINGLY DEMOCRATIC CURRENTS OF HIS TIME. THE PAPER WILL THUS SHOW HOW POPOVICI REPRESENTED MORE THAN A SIMPLY REACTIONARY TAKE ON THE CONTEMPORARY UNDERSTANDING OF DEMOCRACY ITSELF, BUT ALSO A REPRESENTATIVE OF A WIDER CURRENT WHICH SOUGHT TO MAKE SENSE OF THE LEVELLING TENDENCIES THAT WERE TEARING DOWN EXISTING REALITIES AND ELITES, AND, AT THE SAME TIME, CREATING NEW ONES.