The Romanian Review of 20th Century History is published under the aegis of the Centre for 20th Century History and the Faculty of History of “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, and can be consulted free of charge on this official page (revista.cis20.ro).
In a landscape saturated with publications and digital platforms examining the past, the appearance of a new history review is rarely seen as a significant event. Instead, it raises a number of questions: is there really a need for yet one more historical periodical? What does it bring to the market of historical ideas and reconstructions? There is no place for authors’ articles and studies in other journals?
A new journal most often tries to capture attention through a novel manifesto to signal its legitimacy and attract adherents. It usually announces a gripping topic or a compelling programme of methodological renewal. Those who support this new journal do not have such lofty assumptions or ambitions. Rather, in the first place, the journal is designed to strengthen the identity, visibility, and work of a group of historians, most of them academics from University of Iași, Romania, who since 2017 have come together to form a Centre for Twentieth Century History/ Centrul de istorie a secolului XX (CIS-20). Those who have supported the new journal do not have the arrogance to suggest a dogmatic credo, one of change in how we approach the past. We are not, therefore, proposing a new history. Nevertheless, there are certain principles that will guide us in undertaking this project in addition to providing a voice for our community of historians.
Our purpose is to give new credibility and circulation to straightforward professional research on the subject of recent history by emphasizing scientific rigour, by drawing on the widest possible range of primary or underutilized sources, and through an openness to methodologies from different areas of knowledge. On the same time, we will not be interested in trendiness for its own sake, believing that traditional historical methods and aims have a considerable amount to offer historians of today… and tomorrow. We propose a deliberately academic approach in order to build a sounder and more truthful narrative of the recent past.
Our journal is not only open to the work of historians, but also to social and political scientists as well who are interested in identifying new sources and opportunities for launching new points of view and innovative ideas concerning 20th century Romanian and international history. We also hope to promote an open and comprehensive dialogue between Romanian specialists on modern history and those from abroad. This comparative approach should be a desideratum of the contributors to the journal, regardless of their provenance.
As the title indicates, in Revista română de istorie a secolului XX / The Romanian Review of Twentieth Century History, we will endeavour to bring together studies, documents, book reviews, and other materials concerning the history of the 20th century, both from the perspective of Romanian society and civilization, and from the perspective of international history. Although we favour the “short” version of twentieth century, we will not limit our endeavour to the period between 1918 and 1991. Showing thematic and methodological openness, we understand the immersion of some of the authors in their research dealing with the dynamic 19th century in order to discover the causes of certain events and phenomena. We also accept the need to understand the consequences and ramifications of the developments and events of the recent past. Therefore, the journal will also publish studies analysing the early decades of the 21st century as well.
Assuming this range, we do not wish to imply a categorical rejection of publications of a generalist variety or of contributions of a highly specific nature. Nor do we not the work of journals, now dominant in the professional space, which deal with the problems of a narrowly circumscribed region or focus. We ourselves have chosen to focus on Europe, a Eurocentric perspective being the raison d’être of the historiographical discourse of the Centre for the History of the Twentieth Century. The proposed vision, however, is not limited, as in most other cases, to Western Europe, Central, Southeastern or Eastern Europe. Our intention is to historically and historiographically to “integrate” the study of the Romanian past with that of all of Europe from the West to East in an analysis of intra-European international relations and between Europe and other extra-European power factors.
It will also be our intent to frequently produce thematic issues in which contributors will focus on a particular topic to help understand a subject in a pluralistic manner, following the interaction of historical forces across national borders, including demographic, cultural, intellectual, economic, environmental and media transfers among others.
A final purpose of this rationale is that we do not wish for an uncertain reader. We are targeting an audience interested in the history of recent times, in those issues between the turn of the century and the end of communism. We want readers and authors who are not looking for verdicts and condemnations á rebours – things that historians rarely produce – but those who seeks an understanding of the 20th century in the complexity of its phenomena and facts, and in the many nuances that this period contains.
Beyond the reconstructive-analytical dimension present in studies and articles, our publication assumes the critical and professional importance of book reviews and bibliographical notes related to our field of reference. Such materials will also validate our journal as a tool for those who wish to come to grips with the 20th century.
Lastly, the journal will act as an organ of expression for the already-mentioned Centre for 20th Century History at the University of Iași under whose aegis it is published, reflecting the research agenda and interests of the Centre, promoting the values of that Centre, as well as informing the public of the scholarly interests of the Centre and its collaborators.
All articles from Revista Română de Istorie a Secolului XX / The Romanian Review of 20th Century History are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) License. The readers are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles published in our journal and can use them for any other lawful purpose.