Identity and societal security in the Republic of Moldova : Civil society perceptions and engagement

The present research analyzes the close relationship between identity issues and societal security in a broad sense, respectively civil society in particular in the current conditions of the Republic of Moldova. The specificity of the historical and political course of the current territory of the Republic of Moldova, the establishment of the national state as a product of the disintegration of the USSR, the problems of the interminable democratic transition place the issue of identity as very important one, in the context of ensuring societal security in the Republic of Moldova. The process of democratization of the society has encouraged the growth of active groups based primarily on their distinct collective identities, which has widened the social and societal divisions between people, which has created premises for a crisis of representation and therefore the straining of societal relations on certain segments. Methodologically, the analysis focuses on some aspects from the civil society dimension that fuel identity cleavages in the Republic of Moldova at the current stage, namely: the ethno-national dimension, the linguistic dimension, religion and geopolitical affiliation. The role of civil society in overcoming crises and conflicts that may arise on these sensitive topics is very important. The purpose of the research is to identify and analyze the observable indicators and dimensions of civil society involvement in the direction of developing and maintaining identity cleavages, respectively the civil society engagement and perceptions of identity fragmentation. Also, there is a high interest over the practices accumulated by civil society organizations in overcoming identity confrontations by establishing a civilized intercultural dialogue and promoting a participatory political culture. The main hypothesis is that an important part of civil society in the Republic of Moldova acts and is used (in the absence of independence) with the aim of maintaining and developing the existing identity cleavages. Civil society is often itself divided by identity and geopolitics and from this perspective keeps public discourse strained in society and politically partisan. The second hypothesis is built starting from the perception that in the space of this country there are realities that converge towards the daily expression of community-identity borders, a reality in which civil society has a limited role. These boundaries can be identified both in terms of ethno-national and linguistic identity. The main levels and directions of analysis that we propose are the following: a. analysis of perceptions and identity cleavages/identity as a border in the historical and geopolitical context - throughout this extensive analysis, we propose a general debate on identity issues, often of great sensitivity in the space of the Republic of Moldova; b. conceptualization and analysis of civil society involvement in the societal security management process: analysis of perceptions and engagement.