When cultural strength means political weakness: Romania’s marriage referendum and the paradox of conservative mobilisation
Held on 6–7 October 2018, the Romanian referendum on the topic of gay marriage was the fourth referendum of this kind organised in East Central Europe over a five-year period. Because turnout was low in all of them and demands explanation, this paper: i) discusses the common characteristics of these...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Sciendo
2020-06-01
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| Series: | Moravian Geographical Reports |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/mgr-2020-0006 |
| _version_ | 1818650517265448960 |
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| author | Racu Alexandru Giugăl Aurelian Johnston Ron Gavriş Alexandru |
| author_facet | Racu Alexandru Giugăl Aurelian Johnston Ron Gavriş Alexandru |
| author_sort | Racu Alexandru |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Held on 6–7 October 2018, the Romanian referendum on the topic of gay marriage was the fourth referendum of this kind organised in East Central Europe over a five-year period. Because turnout was low in all of them and demands explanation, this paper: i) discusses the common characteristics of these Eastern European marriage referendums, contextualising the Romanian referendum; ii) overviews the history of the Romanian referendum, emphasising the legal, political, ideological and societal aspects; iii) quantitatively examines the electoral geography of the voting patterns; and iv) interprets qualitative data seeking to understand the voters’ choices and why conservative mobilisation was so weak. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T01:51:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5c06e4cd92b44855ab3c67438290dcba |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1210-8812 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T01:51:28Z |
| publishDate | 2020-06-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Moravian Geographical Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-5c06e4cd92b44855ab3c67438290dcba2022-12-21T22:08:03ZengSciendoMoravian Geographical Reports1210-88122020-06-01282708010.2478/mgr-2020-0006mgr-2020-0006When cultural strength means political weakness: Romania’s marriage referendum and the paradox of conservative mobilisationRacu Alexandru0Giugăl Aurelian1Johnston Ron2Gavriş Alexandru3Independent Researcher, Bucharest, RomaniaFaculty of Journalism and Communication Studies; Interdisciplinary Center of Advanced Research on Territorial Dynamics, University of Bucharest, RomaniaSchool of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, UKFaculty of Business and Tourism, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, RomaniaHeld on 6–7 October 2018, the Romanian referendum on the topic of gay marriage was the fourth referendum of this kind organised in East Central Europe over a five-year period. Because turnout was low in all of them and demands explanation, this paper: i) discusses the common characteristics of these Eastern European marriage referendums, contextualising the Romanian referendum; ii) overviews the history of the Romanian referendum, emphasising the legal, political, ideological and societal aspects; iii) quantitatively examines the electoral geography of the voting patterns; and iv) interprets qualitative data seeking to understand the voters’ choices and why conservative mobilisation was so weak.https://doi.org/10.2478/mgr-2020-0006referendumsame-sex marriageelectoral geographyeast central europeromania |
| spellingShingle | Racu Alexandru Giugăl Aurelian Johnston Ron Gavriş Alexandru When cultural strength means political weakness: Romania’s marriage referendum and the paradox of conservative mobilisation Moravian Geographical Reports referendum same-sex marriage electoral geography east central europe romania |
| title | When cultural strength means political weakness: Romania’s marriage referendum and the paradox of conservative mobilisation |
| title_full | When cultural strength means political weakness: Romania’s marriage referendum and the paradox of conservative mobilisation |
| title_fullStr | When cultural strength means political weakness: Romania’s marriage referendum and the paradox of conservative mobilisation |
| title_full_unstemmed | When cultural strength means political weakness: Romania’s marriage referendum and the paradox of conservative mobilisation |
| title_short | When cultural strength means political weakness: Romania’s marriage referendum and the paradox of conservative mobilisation |
| title_sort | when cultural strength means political weakness romania s marriage referendum and the paradox of conservative mobilisation |
| topic | referendum same-sex marriage electoral geography east central europe romania |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/mgr-2020-0006 |
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