MOLDOVA - UNIFICATION AND INTERNATIONAL LAW AT THE CIVILIZATIONAL FRONTIER: SMALL STATES, DEMOCRATIC SURVIVAL, AND THE QUEST FOR THE WEST

Pawel MACIĄG,University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland, the Centre for East European Studies

Rezumat

This study analyzes the modern argument for uniting the Republic of Moldova with Romania through international law, democratic self-determination, and Western Civilization as a legal order. Using public statements from the Presi- dent of the Republic of Moldavia (Maia Sandu), current survey research, and the geopolitical pressures being placed on the Republic of Moldova by Russia, this paper posits that the unification discourse is a strategic-legal response to the structural vulnerability that small democratic countries face in their quest to protect themselves legally, and con- stitutionally, in an increasingly unstable world order caused by revisionist powers. Furthermore, the example provided by the Republic of Moldova illustrates that the contemporary “search for the West” does not constitute an exercise in establishing cultural identity; it constitutes an attempt to establish an environment where there are established rules and protections afforded under those rules that guarantee a rule of law based on a constitutional democracy. Keywords: international law, small state, sovereignty, self-determination, rule of law, democratic resilience, Eu- ropean Union integration, state unification. DOI: https://doi.org/10.59295/sum3(193)2026_34