Regionalization and historical–cultural dimension of Northwest Romania

The present article tackles a very actual and heavily debated topic in our country, that of the regionalization. Our aim is to present how the memory of belonging to a historical region, the ethnical criteria, the local/regional identity and pride influence the outlining of the regionalization projects from the North–West Region of Transylvania. As a case study we have chosen to unfold the regionalization initiatives which target the North–West Region due to its unique character, being an administrative unit, which during history formed part of a multiethnic province with many autonomous regions. In order to better understand the current decentralization projects of various political parties we have considered also necessary to present the historical regions, ethnical– and administrative territorial configuration of Transylvania throughout the centuries. We wish to prove that despite the devices used in the regionalization process, stating that its role is purely economic reality shows that neither the ethnical nor the historical criteria can be neglected in case of Transylvania, an extremely heterogonous region with strong regional identities.