The Politics of Ethnodemographic Survival: Pro-Natalism, Migration and Citizenship in Romania

The steady decline of fertility rates in Europe raises major questions about the feasibility of the welfare state and about the survival of the nation. Unlike in the West, where such worries are mostly linked with issues of immigration, in Eastern Europe, the problem of demographic decline is set against a background of high levels of emigration and of a history of complex ethnic relations within and across borders. Focusing on the case of post-communist Romania, the paper analyses how fears of demographic decline are translated into public discourses and policies concerning biological and cultural reproduction of the nation. It explores how the idea of national survival is used to justify ethno-selective policies on childbirth, (return) migration and (diaspora) citizenship. By using an interdisciplinary approach, the paper identifies, analyzes and makes theoretical sense of ideological stances and normative claims that frame the politics of ethnodemographic survival in Romania.