Despite the military and political uncertainties brought about by Romania's independent stance in the Warsaw Pact and COMECON, the country has enjoyed a rapid economic growth rate. Direction of the country's economy is highly centralized and rigidly controlled by the PCR. A variety of economic ministries within the governmental structure are responsible for the administering of specific sectors of the economy, but policymaking is a function of the Standing Presidium of the party. The economy operates in accordance with five-year and annual plans that are all-encompassing and binding on all economic enterprises. Some attempts at decentralization have been made since 1968 in an effort to increase initiative on the part of lower level managers, but intransigence on the part of the hierarchy in releasing its hold has all but nullified the lukewarm reform efforts. In 1972 Romania was into the second year of its Five-Year Plan (1971-75) and was beset by a host of economic problems. The planners had set high goals for growth during the period, but past overemphasis on heavy industrialization had left a residue of problems in all other areas. Agriculture had been neglected, production of consumer goods had never reached planned goals, and balance of payment deficits with Western nations threatened the foreign trade base. In seeking political and economic independence from the Soviet Union, the regime had placed itself in a precarious position, which forced it to find ways of becoming more competitive in world markets and fulfilling the basic needs of its people at the same time it sought to mollify the resentments of its COMECON partners and retain its ideological commitments to socialism and ultimate communism. Despite its maverick approach and its growing relations with the West, Romania was still tied by treaty, ideology, and geography to the Soviet Union and to its Eastern European communist neighbors. CHAPTER 2 HISTORICAL SETTING Romania's history as an independent state dates from about the middle of the nineteenth century; as a communist state, from about the end of World War II. The history of the Romanian people, however, is long, complex, and important when considered in the context of the overall history of the Balkan region. The origin and development of the Romanians remain controversial subjects among Romanian and Hungarian historians, whose arguments serve to support or deny claims to rightful ownership of large areas within Romania's borders (see fig. 1).