Talking development. The culture of investments and Nokia`s story in Romania

This work puts forward an analysis of one of the largest foreign direct investments in Romania. Relying on a contextualized understanding of Gramsci’s notion of hegemony, I am attempting to identify and explain the ideological forces at work in the reception of and reactions to this investment. I do so by narrowing down the narrative of late capitalism to a focus on its local discursive framings and on its contextually constructed meanings. I argue that the strength of the hegemonic discourse around development is particularly strong in Romania’s case and it silences alternative imaginaries of economic security and well-being.