Glossary -- Romania

Banat: Region bounded by the Tisza River on the west, the Mures River on the north, the Transylvanian Alps on the east, and the Danube on the south. After World War I, it was divided between Yugoslavia and Romania.
Bessarabia: Region between the Dniester and Prut rivers north of the Black Sea. Seized by the Soviet Union in 1940, it was merged with Bukovina (q.v.) to form the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Bukovina (var., Bucovina): Region in the foothills of the Eastern Carpathians at the headwaters of the Prut, Siret, and Dniester rivers. The region belonged to Romania between World War I and World War II, but was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940.
central (pl., centrale): Large industrial associations created by economic reforms in the late 1960s ostensibly to assume some of the decision-making authority of the various economic ministries. They had little real autonomy.
Comecon: Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. Founded in 1949; headquartered in Moscow. Members are Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Soviet Union, Vietnam. Purpose is to promote economic development of member states through cooperation and specialization.
Dobruja (var., Dobrudja and Dobrogea): Black Sea coastal lands lying south of the Danube in southeastern Romania and northeastern Bulgaria.
Extensive economic development: Expanding production by adding resources rather than by improving the efficiency with which these resources are exploited.
Fiscal Year (FY): Calendar year.
GATT: General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. An international organization established in 1948 and headquartered in Geneva that serves as a forum for international trade negotiations. GATT members pledge to further multilateral trade by reducing import tariffs, quotas, and preferential trade agreements and promise to extend to each other any favorable trading terms offered in subsequent agreements with third parties.
GNA: Grand National Assembly. Nominally the supreme organ of state power, it is essentially a rubber-stamp legislature of 369 deputies elected every five years. It meets twice yearly and in special sessions as necessary.
GNP: gross national product. The total value of goods and services produced in a nation during a specified period, usually one year.
Greater Romania: Following World War I, Romania incorporated Transylvania, Bessarabia, Bukovina, the eastern Banat, and southern Dobruja. It subsequently lost much of this territory.
IMF: International Monetary Fund. Established along with the World Bank (q.v.) in 1945, the IMF is a specialized agency affiliated with the United Nations that takes responsibility for stabilizing international exchange rates and payments. The main business of the IMF is the provision of loans to its members when they experience balance-of-payment difficulties. These loans often carry conditions that require substantial internal economic adjustments by the recipients.
judet (pl., judete): Local administrative division corresponding to county or district. There are forty such units plus the municipality of Bucharest and the surrounding Ilfov Agricultural District.
leu (pl., lei): Standard unit of currency, divided into 100 bani. The official exchange rate in January 1989 stood at 14.5 lei per US$1, but the actual rate varied according to type of transaction.
Moldavia (var., Moldova and Moldau): Former principality, east of Transylvania (q.v.) and north and east of Walachia (q.v.).
multilaterally developed socialist state: The proclaimed goal for Romania's social and economic development to be achieved by the year 2000. The goal envisioned an industrially advanced socialist nation with an efficient and productive agriculture and a well-educated population enjoying a high standard of living.
national income: The total value of a nation's material production, depreciation, achieved in one year.
New Economic and Financial Mechanism: Economic reforms introduced in March 1978, the first of numerous efforts to improve economic management and planning by increasing the decision-making powers of individual enterprises and centrale (q.v.). The reforms were implemented only half-heartedly.
PCR: Partidul Comunist Român (Romanian Communist Party). The ruling and only legal political party. Founded in 1921, the Communist Party was declared illegal in 1924 and operated underground until 1944. The party came to power as a result of the Soviet occupation during the final year of World War II. In 1948 it merged with on wing of the Social Democratic Party to form the Romanian Workers' Party (Partidul Muncitoresc Român--PMR). In 1965 the party assumed its present name.
Polexco: Political Executive Committee. The politburo of the PCR (q.v.), the party's primary policy-making body. In 1988 there were nineteen members, most of whom held other important party and government positions.
Procuratura: Office of the prosecutor general, established in 1952, it operates the court system, decides jurisdictional questions, compiles crime statistics, and oversees the central criminology institute and forensic science laboratory.
Securitate: Popular term for the Departmentul Secevit#atii Statului (Department of State Security), the secret police. On a per capita basis, Romania has the largest such service in Eastern Europe.
socialism (adj., socialist): In Marxist theory a stage of historical development transitional between capitalism and communism. Romania claimed to have attained socialism by 1965.
Sublime Porte (short form, the Porte): Term used by Europeans to designate the Ottoman court or the government of Ottoman Turkey; derived from the gate (port) of the sultan's palace, at which justice was administered in ancient times.
Transylvania (var., Transilvania): Region of northwestern and central Romania of triangular shape, bounded on the north, east, and south by the Carpathian Mountains and Transylvanian Alps and the homeland of roughly two million ethnic Hungarians.
UGSR: Uniunea Generalâ a Sindicatelor din România (General Union of Trade Unions). Official organization incorporating all labor unions of blue- and white-collar workers. Membership in 1985 was 7.3 million.
UTC: Uniunea Tineretului Comunist (Union of Communist Youth). Official organization that functions as the youth branch of the PCR (q.v.). Membership open to young people between ages fifteen and twenty-six. Membership in 1984 estimated at 3.7 million.
voivode: A slavic term designating a military leader, adopted for a time by the rulers or princes of Walachia and Moldavia.
Walachia (var., Wallachia): Former principality between the Danube and Transylvanian Alps in southern Romania.
Warsaw Treaty Organization: Formal name for Warsaw Pact. Military alliance of communist countries founded in 1955, with headquarters in Moscow. The Soviet minister of defense is traditionally the supreme commander of Warsaw Pact forces. Members are Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union.
World Bank: Informal name used to designate a group of three affiliated international institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The IBRD, established in 1945, has the primary purpose of providing loans to developing countries for productive projects. The IDA, a legally separate loan fund administered by the staff of the IBRD, was set up in 1960 to furnish credits to the poorest developing countries on much easier terms than those of conventional IBRD loans. The IFC, founded in 1956, supplements the activities of the IBRD through loans and assistance designed specifically to encourage the growth of productive private enterprises in less developed countries. The president and certain senior officers of the IBRD hold the same positions in the IFC. The three institutions are owned by the governments of the countries that subscribe their capital. To participate in the World Bank group, member states must first belong to the IMF (q.v.).