Alina Mungiu-Pippidi

Alina Mungiu-Pippidi (born March 12, 1964) is a Romanian political scientist, academic, journalist and writer. A commentator on national politics, she is one of the most prominent civil society activists in post-1989 Romania, and, since 1990, an active contributor to "22". Mungiu-Pippidi is a professor at the Şcoala Naţională de Ştiinţe Politice şi Administrative in Bucharest, where she holds courses on Nationalism and Electoral Behavior. She has also lectured on post-Cold War transition to a market economy at several Universities, including Harvard, Stanford, Princeton and Oxford. She is the sister of film director Cristian Mungiu. In August 2007 she assumed a professorship in Democratisation Studies at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany.

Biography

Born in Iaşi, she graduated as a valedictorian from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Iaşi. Starting in her student years, she began contributing essays of literary criticism to the magazines "Opinia Studenţească" (of which she became editor in chief after the Romanian Revolution, in 1991-1992) and "Cronica". After 1993, she worked for the Bucharest daily "Express" (until 1994). She was also the Romanian corespondent for the French newspaper "Le Monde" (1992-1993), and was employed as a news editor by the Romanian Television Company (1997-1998). In 2000, she authored a political science textbook for optional studies in high schools.

Mungiu-Pippidi holds a doctorate in social psychology. She visited Harvard University twice, first as a Fullbright fellow in the Government Department (1994-1995), and then as Shorenstein fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government (1998-1999).

In 1995, she founded Romania's largest think tank, the Romanian Academic Society (SAR), which issued several reports that were at the center of public debates (among others, they were credited with promoting steps that led Parliament to ultimately adopt legislation regarding freedom of information, flat taxation, and other approaches to Romania's accession to the European Union)Fact|date=June 2007. Mungiu-Pippidi is currently the SAR's president. She has also created and led the "Coalition for a Clean Parliament" ("Coaliţia pentru un Parlament Curat"), which in the wake of the 2004 legislative elections, campaigned for candidates with reported moral problems (such as incompatibility or undergoing the investigation of judicial authorities) to be excluded from party lists (98 candidatures were withdrawn following the Coalition's campaign).Fact|date=June 2007

elective works

Essays

*"Românii după '89" ("The Romanians after '89")
*"Doctrine politice. Concepte universale şi realităţi româneşti" ("Political doctrines. Universal concepts and Romanian realities"), 1998
*"Introducere în politologie. Manual opţional pentru liceu." ("An introduction to politology. Optional textbook for high school"), 2000
*"Romania after 2000. Threats and Challenges", 2002

Plays

Alina Mungiu-Pippidi has also written a number of plays, the most high-profile of which has been "The Evangelists". The play, which was written in the 1990s, only debuted in Romania in 2005, where it sparked a considerable amount of controversy from Christian religious groups, who labeled it as "blasphemy" and "an attack against public morals". [Otilia Haraga, [http://romaniarules.tribe.net/thread/9958ac62-5b77-4a1f-bb85-34f4ef079044 "Play on religious subject triggers heated discussions"] , "Bucharest Daily News", December 16, 2005] The play is based on the life of Jesus from a different point of view than that of the New Testament. Among its controversial scenes is one in which it is suggested that Mary Magdalene has oral sex with Jesus.

References

External links

* [http://www.sar.org.ro/Resume%20AMP.pdf Resumé] , at the Romanian Academic Society
*ro icon [http://www.polirom.ro/autori.cgi?action=autori&class=details&id=423 Short biography] , at Polirom.ro
*ro icon Călin Ciobotari, [http://www.hotnews.ro/pp_articol_7857-Alina-Mungiu-Pippidi-scandalizeaza-dulcele-targ-al-Iesilor.htm "Alina Mungiu-Pippidi scandalizează 'dulcele târg al Ieşilor'"] , "Flacăra Iaşului", December 5, 2005
*ro icon [http://www.cartearomaneasca.ro/colectii/teatru/evanghelistii.html Alina Mungiu-Pippidi – Evangheliştii] , at Cartea Românească