Moldova’s 'Twitter Revolution'
Journal of Democracy, Vol. 20, No. 3, July 2009
7 Pages Posted: 29 Dec 2009
Date Written: July 1, 2009
Abstract
Angry young men stoning police in a European capital over the Easter break does not make a promising opening scene for a democratic revolution. Few Europeans had heard of Moldova, a tiny state on the EU’s eastern flank, before seeing images of the strife that broke out there in early April 2009 after the Communist Party (PCRM) won reelection in a landslide. The rioting that broke out in Chiºinãu alongside a peaceful demonstration found Europe unprepared for another “color revolution.” By the time diplomats and EU bureaucrats got back from their holidays, harsh official repression and a lack of Western support had ended the unrest. Questions of what had happened and what it meant lingered, however.
Keywords: Moldova, color revolution
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