Alexandru Ioan Cuza și cezarismul democratic

This chapter brings forward a legal-political assessment of the so-called „Statute developing the Paris Convention” conceded by Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza and legitimized by plebiscite after the coup d’état of 2/14 May 1864. It argues in favour of an open-minded political analysis of Cuza’s reign, emphasizing the negative impact of this constitutional act on the Romanian constitutional-political development in the second half of the 19th century. The Statute was a milestone in Prince Cuza’s increasing authoritarian agenda and the official institutional architecture of his French-like democratic Caesarism. Despite the essential steps towards the modernization of Romanian society, Cuza’s authoritarian behaviour blocked the legitimate agenda of the Romanian political elites to modernize the Romanian state and political life upon the pillars of liberal constitutionalism.