Nation-Building and Contested Identities - MEK

tive. That is, situations when Hungarians feel that Romanian features (mostlyof negative connotation) are unjustly assigned to them are importantsources of dissatisfaction. The following data provide insight to the extentof this feeling. 27TABLE 2. Degrees of agreement with the following statement: “Certain thingsmake me feel ashamed of being a Romanian citizen.”RomaniansHungariansFully agree 19.9% 56.0%Rather agree 23.6% 24.3%Rather disagree 18.9% 7.2%Fully disagree 30.6% 7.4%Don’t know 7.0% 5.1%TOTAL 100% 100%Source: Culic, Horváth and Lazãr, Ethnobarometer: Interethnic Relations in Romania.Another reason is the perceived situation of Romania within theregion, not least compared to Hungary. Obviously, the ethnic Hungarians’experience of the institutions of the Romanian state is very similar to whatRomanians themselves experience. Nevertheless, they feel entitled toreceive all the extra benefits, not least symbolic, offered by their nationalityand national external homeland. 28Self-Identification and Identification of the “Other”According to Table 3, most Romanians identify themselves with a nationaltype. When asked whether they primarily identified with local, regionalor national terms, 71.1% of Romanians declared themselves simply“Romanians.”TABLE 3. Self-identification of Romanians.Nationhood and IdentityIdentityPercentageRomanian 71.1%Regional type (ardelean, oltean, etc.) 24.2%East-European 0.6%Balkan 0.2%European 1.4%Other 2.5%TOTAL 100%Source: Culic, Horváth, and Lazãr, Ethnobarometer: Interethnic Relations in Romania.Data for the Romanian sample, N=1253.233