FRAMEWORK DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Only the blind, the deaf, and the armless will fail to notice the multiple multi-level crisis existing today in the Republic of Moldova, which many softly call turbulence and a difficult situation, a derivative of external factors beyond Moldovan control.
In part, we are indeed in such a weakly controlled situation by Moldovan managers, but only in part, for what they do control is also in crisis. There is a crisis of meaning, a crisis of institutions, a crisis of personnel, a crisis of actions… in sum, this gives us our complete invisibility or very low indicators on the world map of the 21st century.
So why is Moldova a stable outsider in the indicators? Unequivocally, the answer lies in the insufficient quality of management - state and private - however, meaningful guidelines also play no small role here. I would even say the main one.
For more than one year now1 I have been noting in Moldovan decision-making points the absence of a strategic vision for the development of our country for decades ahead: the horizon of coverage among responsible persons, unfortunately, continues to be limited to short budget and electoral cycles. And also, despite the paradigm shift in the world back in 2011, today, in the middle of 2026, I see the persistence of inertia in local managerial views and actions, generating and multiplying errors in these very actions and the results expected after them.
One of the clear examples is the situation with labor resources, the need for which in our country, due to systematically declining demographics and a falling standard of living, is very acute. We are among the top five countries in the world losing population the fastest!
To raise the standard of living and solve this problem, the government of Moldova a year ago formulated a long-term vision for the development of our state in the form of a simple phrase - "our products need added value." As I said then, this goal does not correspond to the trends of the 21st century and is about 100 years outdated, but fine, since it still exists as a beacon of state development, let us see what solution the Moldovan authorities found, starting from the meaningful guideline they set. A rather unexpected one - not the return of their own citizens to their homeland, but the importation of unskilled labor migrants from Central Asian countries. The choice of the area of origin of the workers was justified simply - their mentality is similar to the Moldovan one, since we all come from the USSR and the CIS.
After our criticism, among other things, of the quality of the incoming labor resources (Moldova needs competent engineers, but what arrives are general laborers, couriers, and cleaners), the officials abandoned this decision… only to, a year later, now, without having created the proper conditions for involving Moldovan citizens themselves in the economy of their own country and, accordingly, without having obtained the desired result of their activity in the form of economic growth, adopt an analogous decision, but now a class lower - to flood the Republic of Moldova with low-skilled labor migrants from Nepal, Bangladesh, and India. And not simply to bring them into Moldova, but to give them priority compared to Moldovan citizens, including financial priority in the form of monetary allowances. To obtain what in the end? A dispersal of Moldovan culture, the washing out of even more Moldovans from the economy, the country's fall to lower levels in search of an economic miracle from outdated textbooks at the expense of new low-skilled and low-paid workers? Already from Africa?.. By the way, in terms of our current level of development, we are right next to underdeveloped African countries. Apparently, the authorities are striving to fix our position there...
A similar problem, by the way, exists in neighboring Ukraine, EU countries, Canada… in all states that adhere to the idea of a structural crisis.
And this is a fundamental mistake, because it is time for all of us to realize that we are not in a structural crisis, but in a phase crisis.
Let me explain. There are two types of crises - structural and phase. A structural crisis is when individual breakdowns occur within the existing system (local or sectoral), subject to "repair," for example, through reforms or optimization. A phase crisis is a global breakdown of orders, when the system exhausts itself, and the need arises for a complete rethinking and transition to a qualitatively new level.
WE ARE IN A PHASE CRISIS!
This means that any reforms to preserve or align the familiar system are like a poultice for a dead man.
This means that what is needed is a conceptual rethinking and reboot of the Republic of Moldova so that we grow stronger, rise, and worthily declare ourselves to the world as a country not of the past, but of the present and future. A country producing not despondency, poverty, and capacity with an arrow "at half past five," but real development adequate to the challenges of the time.
What is needed for this? First, we as a country must recognize ourselves not as an object, but as a subject of life and politics, and only after that can we build our further steps, forming ourselves.
What does subjectness give a country?
• The presence of an image of the future. Moreover, not just an image of the future, but a constructive (!) image of the future of its state.
• Based on the formulated and articulated constructive image of the future, an understanding of what person of the future the country needs to prepare, and what education system the state must have for this.
• The country's possession of its own culture and the definition of its cultural code.
• Based on the constructive image of the future, the understanding of the person of the future, the culture of one's country, and long-term development guidelines expressed in the cultural code, the formulation of one's own paradigm and, as a consequence, the reboot of oneself as a country in a new quality and context.
In framework terms, it looks like this:
1. IMAGE OF THE FUTURE
Big Idea: The Republic of Moldova forms itself as a brand-country, the essence of which is to be a space of advanced development.
The Big Idea reveals the image of the future: it answers the question "why does the country exist?" in a civilizational sense, sets the direction of the state's development, unites elites and society, transmits a clear message to the outside world, and turns (as it is detailed) into institutions and policy.
The Big Idea we have formulated contains three semantic levels that explain the image of the future for different audiences:
a) civilizational,
b) state,
c) human.
Civilizational level: Moldova is a space of advanced development. The image of the country's future is presented on a large scale, philosophically, does not limit us to some specific sector or textbook cliché, and allows for different models of implementation.
State level: Moldova is a country of high adaptability. In the 21st century, it is not the largest systems that win, but the fastest-adapting ones. This slogan is logical for a small state, justifies reorganization, links artificial intelligence (synthetic algorithms), education, development regions, and the economy, and explains the country's flexibility.
Human level: Moldova unlocks human potential. The thesis combines education, technology, culture, regions, health, and entrepreneurship. The advantage of this formulation is that it is not about the economy, it is about the person of the future.
In sum, all three semantic levels of the Big Idea, addressed to people and countries, transmit a deep, large-scale, understandable, constructive, and politically sustainable image of the Republic of Moldova in the 21st century.
2. PERSON OF THE FUTURE
What kind of person corresponds to such a vision of the future of the Republic of Moldova and the era as a whole? Based on many years of observing changes in the world and understanding the stages of the new paradigm, I can say that they must be:
- variable (flexible, mobile, combining the qualities of a "humanities person" and a "techie," capable of feeling at ease not only in their narrow field of professional knowledge, but also in related fields, and even unrelated ones),
- possessing critical and engineering thinking, imagination, and an inventive spirit,
- at the same time, they must possess certain personal qualities (the basic qualities of a sociocrat2) – kindness/gentleness, aspiration, freedom, will/character/inner core, reliability/ability to keep one's word.
The set just named is key, but not dogmatic - it can be augmented with additional knowledge, skills, and competencies that develop a person's personality in accordance with the challenges of the time and the declared image of the future of the state. However, even the basic list gives us not just a literate person, but also a modern one, capable of adapting to the demands of the era and being competitive. What is required both directly by Moldova and by the world in general.
3. CULTURAL CODE
The main problem of most attempts to formulate the Moldovan cultural code is that they describe national character and traditions, rather than a cultural program for the future. That is, they turn their gaze to the past, demonstrating ethnography, and do not show functionality and aspiration forward. In today's realities, ethnography alone is not enough for the development of the state.
The cultural code of a country claiming subjectness is not nostalgia and folklore, but a set of deep-seated attitudes that ensure the reproduction of the needed type of person and the needed type of state.
Modern research shows that the sustainable innovative development of small states, which includes the Republic of Moldova, is connected not so much with resources, which we almost do not have, as with a combination of several cultural factors: long-term thinking, low power distance, high capacity for adaptation, tolerance for diversity of opinions, development of human capital, and a culture of initiative.
In addition, it should be remembered that the cultural code of a state must simultaneously meet five criteria:
• Follow from the country's history.
• Work in the 21st century.
• Be the foundation of education.
• Be the foundation of the economy.
• Be capable of lasting 50–100 years without becoming outdated.
What corresponds to these parameters, the declared image of the future of the Republic of Moldova, the global trends of the 21st century, and the cultural characteristics that research links to the success of small states in the era of knowledge and AI?
The answer is obvious - the formula "Unlock potential. Create the future," which can be explained as follows: the state, society, and culture exist so that every person, every region, every idea, and every generation can unlock the maximum of their possibilities.
4. ARCHITECTURE OF THE FUTURE (alpha of strategic transformation)
Earlier, in fragments, I already talked about how the country can be rebooted3 in the context of the strategic vision of the Republic of Moldova we have articulated. Now I will repeat the main thing, which, in fact, is a prototype of the next-generation state.
4.1. The INBRASA Matrix
So, we have the image of the future of the Republic of Moldova, an understanding of the person of the future, and the cultural code of the country expressing the unlocking of potential, aspiration, and creation; we have knowledge of the new world paradigm that replaced the previous one 15 years ago; we have an understanding of the time and current aspects… all that remains is to choose a starting point for reassembling the country for the realities of the future. I chose the economy.
Observing the manifestations of the new paradigm in the world, analyzing the history of Moldova, taking into account our interests, and reflecting on which sectors could become drivers of development for us, I came to the conclusion that we have four such sectors, and they should no longer be mono-composite, as before, but complex and cross-sectoral for economic coherence, compliance with emerging paradigmatic trends, and the sustainability of the state's development in the 21st century. Thus was born the development matrix of our state:
• IT (science, education, technology, energy, ecology)
• Industry (with an innovative slant)
• Tourism (history, culture, geography, ecology, infrastructure)
• Agriculture (traditional, with innovative tools)
And this matrix - we call it the INBRASA development matrix4 - from the moment of its initial designation5 has become the basis both for conceptualizing the content and work of the listed sectors, and for forming new development regions of the Republic of Moldova within its internationally recognized borders, and for reconfiguring institutions of state governance, and for preparing the person of the future.
It is important to note that the INBRASA development matrix contains not simply four sectors of the economy of the Republic of Moldova, but four interconnected systems for reproducing its national potential:
• The IT branch of the matrix develops as a cognitive-technological system that unlocks the potential of people and technologies;
• Industry – as a production-industrial system creating a next-generation industry;
• Tourism – as a geocultural system aimed at capitalizing on Moldova's space;
• Agriculture – as a biosystemic structure managing bioresources and the food systems of the future.
4.2. The "5 REGIONS" Model
Currently in the Republic of Moldova, officials are preparing to implement an administrative-territorial reform implying the merger of settlements into agglomerations based on the principle of consolidating population in new territorial units and reducing expenses on administrative personnel in the organizational forms being eliminated. The backdrop for the reform is the low standard of living in the country (the official subsistence minimum is 3,050 lei per month (151 euros at the NBM exchange rate), which does not ensure the dignified standard of living of a citizen guaranteed by the Constitution of the RM (Art. 47)), chronic poverty of the population (almost half of the republic's inhabitants belong to the category of poor and destitute), declining demographics (low birth rate, natural decrease, migration of active and able-bodied people to other countries), weak competitiveness of local products due to high resource prices and difficult logistics, high tariffs for electricity and heat, an unbalanced structure of the country's energy system as a whole, and so on.
What solution did Moldovan officials find in light of the above? A mechanical-mathematical one (consolidate) and an accounting one (reduce). Such an approach is logical for a structural crisis, but erroneous for the phase and multiple multi-level crises in which we actually find ourselves today.
How should we act in our case? In the logic of strategic branding6.
As the starting point for my reflection, I took the image of the country's future and the INBRASA development matrix that we formulated, and, having analyzed the state of affairs in the republic and considered possible options for compliance, viability, and prospects, I chose the only workable version for Moldova in the 21st century – a model of 5 cluster development regions, where the number of regions collectively gives the country stability and proper coordination, and the borders (in total, Moldova has 32 districts and 2 autonomous entities; here their initial distribution among cluster development regions is given) are outlined as follows:
• CENTER - Chisinau municipality, Ialoveni, Straseni.
• NORTH - Balti municipality, Edinet, Soroca, Floresti.
• WEST - Ungheni, Nisporeni, Calarasi, Hincesti.
• SOUTH - ATU Gagauzia (Comrat), Cahul, Cimislia, Taraclia.
• EAST - Transnistrian region (Tiraspol), Causeni, Orhei, Criuleni.
The map of the distribution of districts is clear - the hyper-concentrated Chisinau against the backdrop of the rest of the country turned into a desert must be "un