As you all know, together with IMAS Chisinau and deschide.md, Center for Conflict Prevention and Early Warning that I manage, conducted an opinion poll and a study at 25 years since the Independence of the Republic of Moldova. We wanted to see how the identity elements of the citizens of the Republic of Moldova look today, reports to the Independence, pride and reasons to be proud of the achievements of the past 25 years, what worked, what did not work, community spirit, societal cohesion and perspectives of the Republic of Moldova.

As you all know, together with IMAS Chisinau and deschide.md, Center for Conflict Prevention and Early Warning that I manage, conducted an opinion poll and a study at 25 years since the Independence of the Republic of Moldova. We wanted to see how the identity elements of the citizens of the Republic of Moldova look today, reports to the Independence, pride and reasons to be proud of the achievements of the past 25 years, what worked, what did not work, community spirit, societal cohesion and perspectives of the Republic of Moldova.

I was interested to study 3 elements, especially: societal cohesion, the elements that determine the cohesion; characteristics of the population and citizens; fears, alarms and credible threat elements that determine / can cause cohesion by defining the foe-enemy-threats perceived jointly. In addition, the conclusions deserve to be drawn, especially since the results were compared with the last study of its kind done in Chisinau in 2005.

Societal characteristics after 25 years are marked by confusion, ambiguity, obscurity, incoherency, inconsistency of those questioned. It is noticed on all levels. On the first point, that of societal cohesion, the community and population of Moldova proves that it is not an ethnic nation, leaving the trend registered in 2005, it is not a civic nation, but is characterized by a peculiar form of “state nationalism”. Thus, the element of cohesion is citizenship, particularly. Also, the state symbolism appears as a common element of community’s perception. Place of birth, local-regional identity goes after the perceived and declined identity, while the things related to the “right of blood” - history, religion, culture, ethnicity, nationality - went down to the marginal level of perception and self-identification. It should be noted also that European identity is still unclear, but it is present and growing.

The cohesion of population is given by the state’s existence. By the citizenship (something given, not a choice) and by the birth place and where lives/live the parents (a datum). It is a state cohesion, not a national one, nor a civic one.

The community is unintegrated, societal cohesion is at insignificant levels, unconvincing after 25 years of Independence. Moreover, further polls show a paradoxical behavior of the majority, minority like behavior, of a discriminated and unhappy community, insecure, a minority into an empire, not a majority at home. This is probably due to affective and historical memory, existence vices in the former Empire, continuous addiction to the metropolis or, even, because of the undetachment from the metropolis.

Moreover, resentments and perceptions continue to show positive discrimination, or if you want a domination of Russian and Russian-speaking minorities from the majority - better positions, social favorability (and amid a traditional space of tolerance and the lack of cohesion and internal will of the majority to feel at home). The answers to questions related to ethnic relations show this. This and other structural elements of the respondents to various questions of the survey shows that we do not have to do with the birth of a civic nation, and elements of proto-agrarian nation, after Hobsbawm and Gelner's criteria, captured by Iulian Fruntaşu in "Ethno-political history of the Republic of Moldova", faded and disappeared. Societal cohesion is weak, perception and sense of community are inconclusive, unconvincing, and it's unlikely that we might create a future.

Secondly, the good news is that we are dealing with a European country and European citizens. The options at individual identity show this. We have an idealistic population inclined towards democratic values and components. Defining individual features that are seen (and in comparison with previous 2005 studies) for Moldovan citizens: disappointed, pessimistic, hopeless, seeking individual solutions, not collective ones. Idealistic, open to ideas, projects, new visions, open to re-energize the effort to build a common project.

Thereby, respondents noted in the gains chapter in the last 25 years, primarily, rights and freedoms from the fundamental formula of democracy and human rights (so fundamental values). It is true that from far, the first position is free circulation, but immediately appear the right of expression, freedom of speech, media freedom, electoral rights (to vote and to be elected). In second place, paradoxically, access to technology. Economic freedom and economic rights - market economy, privatization, freedom to do business - is third. Finally, only the fourth component is pragmatic, mercantile, consumerist - access to goods and products. It is a good structure of the characteristics of Moldovan population, which rises the optimism.

Finally, on the third level, I was interested to study the collective fears, i.e. practically the perception of external threats. We are talking about a very low perception of common threats, so about placement on the last positions of the concerns of those fears. Terrorism, migration, they are at the bottom of the table, which shows that, unlike the Europeans, the average citizen in Moldova has another priority agenda, distinctive one, because of individual needs and problems, family-related, life, survival, internal problems and solutions are primarily individual, not collective. On the other hand, it should be noted that increased the perception of threat from Transnistria, probably in the current context, with two components: direct threat, given by the recent military exercises and threatening an unfavorable solution by forcing / imposing solutions by Chisinau unilateral concessions.

Altogether, we have a population in waiting mode, with poor societal cohesion, with relatively divided expectations and optimism for future, without hope, waiting an idea, a leader, a vision and a project. This is the radiography for Moldova today, at 25 years after the State’s Independence.