| Summary: | <div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="section"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>According to the Constitution and the existing laws, the Parliament plays a fundamental role in the Romanian political system. But public con</span><span>fi</span><span>dence in Parliament has declined to a minimum 10% in 2012 mostly because of the prolonged and deep economic crisis. We have used the elites theory to explain the constant low levels of con</span><span>fi</span><span>dence recorded by this institution since the anti-communist revolution. The winning parties of the 1990s gained access to power for a long time and established performance standards for future parliamentarians and also in</span><span>fl</span><span>uenced people’s long-term expectations from the political elites. The old communist elites chose a menu of changes oriented towards securing their survival in a new political and social system. Through free elections, the old elite originated a new political power, sending in Parliament an important number of people who used to hold key positions in the communist regime. Thus, old values and habitus have been perpetuated. We show, by using elites theory, that the „genetic” pro</span><span>fi</span><span>le of the Parliament continues to be in</span><span>fl</span><span>uenced by the founding elite’s old values, which are incompatible with ideas such as freedom, competition, and rule of law. The electoral system was changed in 2008, but that has not managed to change the old values yet. </span></p></div></div></div></div>
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