Professional Affiliation

Emeritus Professor of Romanian Studies, University College, London

Expert Bio

Dennis Deletant served as Visiting Ion Rațiu Professor of Romanian Studies in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Washington DC from August 2011 to July 2020. He is Emeritus Professor of Romanian Studies at University College, London, where he taught in the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, between 1969 and 2011 He was awarded ‘The Star of Romania’, Romania’s highest civilian honour, by President Klaus Iohannis on 26 October 2016 for his activity in the promotion of Romanian history, language and culture. He is the author of several monographs and volumes of studies on the recent history of Romania. His most recent study in English, Romania under Communism: Paradox and Degeneration, was published in 2019 (Oxford; New York: Routledge). An autobiographical memoir, In Search of Romania (London: Hurst Publishers), appeared in May 2022.

Expertise

• Cold War
• Governance
• History

Wilson Center Project

US-Romanian Relations Since 1990

Project Summary

The impetus for reform in Romania and the adoption of democratic institutions since 1990 have come from outside rather than from within. The United States, the EU, the International Monetary Fund, and the Council of Europe have been the major catalysts for reform, and the need to satisfy the requirements of these institutions to achieve integration into the so-called “Euro-Atlantic structures” has spurred and guided the reform process in Romania. In joining NATO and the EU Romania moved from uncertainty about its position and future in Europe to certainty. NATO and EU membership offered political and economic stability, providing an anchor for the reforms upon which Romania had embarked since the overthrow of communist rule. The aim of the project is to follow and to analyze the trajectory of political and economic reform in Romania since 1990 and to assess the role of the United States as a catalyst.

Major Publications

• In Search of Romania (London: Hurst Publishers), April 2022.
• Romania under Communism. Paradox and Degeneration (London and New York: Routledge, 2019
• British Clandestine Activities in Romania during the Second World War (London: Palgrave, 2016)

Previous Terms

Former CWIHP scholar.