THE ROMANIAN INTERWAR POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. A NEOINSTITUTIONALIST ANALYSIS.

THIS PAPER IS DEVOTED TO A NEOINSTITUTIONALIST ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS FROM THE INTERWAR ROMANIA, MORE EXACTLY BETWEEN 1918 AND 1938. EVEN THOGH ROMANIA HAD AN INCLUSIVE INSTITUTIONAL SETTING IN FORMAL TERMS, THE POLITICAL PRACTICE OF THE ROMANIAN POLITICAL ELITES WAS NOT DEMOCRATIC. THE QUESTION OF THE PAPER IS THAT: GIVEN THE FORMAL DEMOCRATIC CHARACTER, DO THE ROMANIAN POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS FROM 1918-1938 PASS THE TEST OF INCLUSIVENESS? IN FACT, THE HYPOTHESIS OF THE PAPER IS THAT THE ROMANIAN POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS BETWEEN 1918-1938 DO NOT PASS THE TEST OF DEMOCRATIC CHARACTER, BECAUSE THEY HAD AN EXTRACTIVE CHARACTER. THE THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE ADOPTED IN THIS PAPER COMES FROM DARON ACEMOGLU AND JAMES A. ROBINSON, AS REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NEW INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS. THE CONCLUSION OF THIS PAPER IS THAT THE ROMANIAN POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS FROM THE INTERWAR PERIOD WERE DEMOCRATIC (INCLUSIVE) AT A FORMAL LEVEL, BUT EXTRACTIVE AT AN INFORMAL LEVEL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]