View source for Conducător

{{Short description|Official title used by Ion Antonescu}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Infobox official post
| post                     = Conducător
| body                     = Romania
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| flag                     = Standard of Marshal Ion Antonescu.svg
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| image                    = {{nowrap|[[File:Romanian Prime Minister Ion Antonescu.jpg|150x150px]]<br /><br />[[File:Nicolae Ceaușescu.jpg|150x150px]]}}
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| imagecaption             = '''Best known users of the title:<br>[[Ion Antonescu]]''' (above)<br>5/6 September 1940 – 23 August 1944<br>'''[[Nicolae Ceaușescu]]''' (below)<br>6 July 1971 – 22 December 1989<!---The title Conducător was used by Nicolae Ceaușescu (Don't remove him from the infobox with the vague claims of "fake info".--->
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'''''Conducător''''' ({{IPA|ro|kondukəˈtor|lang}}, meaning '[[Supreme leader|Leader]]') was the title used officially by [[Romania]]n dictator [[Ion Antonescu]] during [[World War II]], also occasionally used in official discourse to refer to [[Carol II of Romania|Carol II]] and [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]].

==History==
The word is derived from the Romanian verb ''a conduce'', from the [[Latin]] ''ducere'' ("to lead" or, "to drive" in Romanian), cognate with such titles as ''[[dux]]'', ''[[duke]]'', ''[[duce]]'' and ''[[Doge (title)|doge]]''. Its meaning also parallels other titles, such as ''[[Führer]]'' in [[Nazi Germany]],<ref>Brady & Kaplan, p. 176; Cioroianu, p. 416; Jelavich, p. 227; Kligman, p. 291</ref> ''[[Duce]]'' in [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Fascist Italy]] and ''[[caudillo]]'' in [[Francoist Spain]].

It was first employed as an additional title by King [[Carol II of Romania|Carol II]] during the final years of the [[National Renaissance Front]] regime,<ref name="Cioroianu, p.416">Cioroianu, p. 416</ref> and soon after employed by Marshal [[Ion Antonescu]] as he assumed [[Romania during World War II|dictatorial powers]] after September 14, 1940.<ref>Brady & Kaplan, p. 176; Butnaru, p. 70; Chehabi & Linz, p. 14; Cioroianu, p. 416; Kligman, p. 291</ref> Nominally, Antonescu was [[Prime Minister of Romania|Prime Minister]] and the role of head of state was filled by [[King Michael I of Romania|King Michael]], but all real power rested with Antonescu.<ref>Butnaru, p. 70; Jelavich, p. 227</ref> According to historian [[Adrian Cioroianu]], through the use of the term, Antonescu meant to highlight connections with Germany, and after the [[Bucharest pogrom|fall]] of the [[Iron Guard]] from shared government (the ''[[National Legionary State]]''), his own personal regime.<ref name="Cioroianu, p.416"/>

The term was occasionally used in official discourse as a reference to [[Nicolae Ceaușescu]], leader of the [[Socialist Republic of Romania]], starting in the [[July Theses|period]] after 1971, at a time when the [[Romanian Communist Party]] grew in membership but decreased in importance due to [[Nicolae Ceaușescu's cult of personality|Ceaușescu's increasing personality cult]].<ref>Berry, p. 14; Brady & Kaplan, p. 176; Chehabi & Linz, p. 14; Cioroianu, pp. 414, 416, 422–427; Gallagher, p. 61; Kligman, p. 291</ref> It was used in parallel with the rarer ''cârmaci'' ("[[helmsman]]"), in turn borrowed from similar rhetoric as [[North Korea]] under [[Kim Il Sung]] and [[China]] under [[Mao Zedong]] after his visit to both countries in June 1971,<ref name="Cioroianu, p.416"/> as well as in parallel to [[caudillismo]] of anti-colonial Latin American leaders whom he met such as [[Fidel Castro]] of [[Cuba]] and [[Juan Perón]] of [[Argentina]]. While references to the Party as the "[[Vanguard party|vanguard of the working class]]" fell out of use,<ref name="Cioroianu, p.416"/> power became centered on Ceauşescu's prerogative to issue orders to the political apparatus.<ref>Cioroianu, pp. 418–421</ref>

The choice of the term was also meant to highlight a symbolic connection with the [[List of rulers of Wallachia|Princes of Wallachia]] and the [[List of rulers of Moldavia|Princes of Moldavia]]<ref>Berry, p. 14; Gallagher, p. 61</ref> (another comparison in use was that between Ceaușescu and the [[Dacia]]n leaders of Antiquity).<ref name="Gallagher, p.61">Gallagher, p. 61</ref> Additionally, during the same period, Communist sources began depicting Antonescu in a favorable light.<ref name="Gallagher, p.61"/> Starting from a model applied to the entire [[Eastern Bloc]] by [[Poland|Polish]] political scientist Andrzej Korboński, differentiating Communist leaderships in types of ''primus inter pares'' (collective leadership) and ''primus'' (personal rule), Cioroianu concluded that Romania's choice for the latter alternative was most likely based on local political tradition.<ref>Cioroianu, pp. 422–423</ref> In Cioroianu's view, Ceaușescu's system drew its other major source of legitimacy from [[Political machine|political clientelism]] (resulting in what he called "an orbital political system").<ref>Cioroianu, pp. 426–432</ref>

The new political relations, largely based on the ''Conducător'''s charisma, were likened to various other dictatorial regimes of the 20th century, and included by [[Houchang Chehabi|Houchang Esfandiar Chehabi]] and [[Juan Linz|Juan José Linz]] among the various "Sultanistic regimes"{{snd}}the title itself has drawn comparisons with other ones created by dictatorial leaders for themselves: ''[[Aryamehr]]'' (used by Iran's [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]]), ''Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga'' (in [[Mobutu Sese Seko|Joseph-Désiré Mobutu]]'s Zaire), the [[Central African Empire|Imperial designation]] of [[Central African Republic|Central Africa]] (under [[Jean-Bédel Bokassa]]), ''Benefactor de la Patria'' (imposed by [[Rafael Leónidas Trujillo]] in the [[Dominican Republic]]), and ''Conqueror of the [[British Empire]] etc.'' (in [[History of Uganda (1971–79)|Idi Amin's Uganda]]).<ref>Chehabi & Linz, pp. 13–15</ref>

==Influence==
Several [[Serbia]]n sources have repeatedly alleged that the [[Croatia]]n politician {{ill|Ivan Krajačić|qid=Q2434818|lt=Ivan "Stevo" Krajačić}}, a member of the [[League of Communists of Croatia]] inside [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Communist Yugoslavia]] and a confidant of [[President of Yugoslavia|President]] [[Josip Broz Tito]], was an active campaigner for Croatian independence.<ref>MacDonald, pp. 191–192</ref> Among other allegations, Krajačić was accused of having adopted the nickname "''Conducător'' of [[Separatism]]", as a compliment to Ceaușescu's dictatorial stance.<ref>MacDonald, p. 192</ref>

== See also ==
* ''[[Führer]]''
* ''[[Duce]]''
* ''[[Caudillo]]''
* ''[[Poglavnik]]''
* ''[[Fører]]''

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==References==
*David Berry, ''The Romanian Mass Media and Cultural Development'', Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot, 2004
*Henry E. Brady, Cynthia S. Kaplan, "Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union", in David Butler, Austin Ranney, ''Referendums Around the World: The Growing Use of Direct Democracy'', [[American Enterprise Institute]], Washington D.C., 1994
*Ion C. Butnaru, ''The Silent Holocaust: Romania and Its Jews'', Praeger/Greenwood, Westport, 1992
*[[Houchang Esfandiar Chehabi]], [[Juan Linz|Juan José Linz]], ''Sultanistic Regimes'', [[Johns Hopkins University Press]], Baltimore, London, 1998
*[[Adrian Cioroianu]], ''Pe umerii lui Marx. O introducere în istoria comunismului românesc'' ("On the Shoulders of Marx. An Incursion into the History of Romanian Communism"), [[Editura Curtea Veche]], Bucharest, 2005
*Tom Gallagher, ''Theft of a Nation: Romania since Communism'', C. Hurst & Co., London, 2005
*Barbara Jelavich, ''History of the Balkans'', [[Cambridge University Press]], Cambridge, 1983
*[[Gail Kligman]], ''The Politics of Duplicity: Controlling Reproduction in Ceausescu's Romania'', [[University of California Press]], Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1998
*David Bruce MacDonald, ''Balkan Holocausts? Serbian and Croatian Victim-Centred Propaganda and the War in Yugoslavia'', [[Manchester University Press]], Manchester, New York 2002

{{Heads of State of Romania}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conducator}}
[[Category:Socialist Republic of Romania]]
[[Category:Fascism in Romania]]
[[Category:Romania in World War II]]
[[Category:Heads of state of Romania]]
[[Category:Romanian words and phrases]]
[[Category:Titles of national or ethnic leadership]]