Intercultural and interethnic tensions have influenced the formation of
Moldova's statehood, and have largely determined the political consciousness and behavior of
the population over the past 20 years. Different socio-cultural issues such as national
identity, the historical, linguistic and religious questions etc. have been subject to various
participatory events and numerous civic and protest actions. This proved the existence and
maintenance of a strong center-periphery cleavage (in terms of S.M. Lipset and S. Rokkan)
in the post-communist context in the Moldovan state. Moldovan society remains divided in
the promoters of nationalist message and the advocates for multicultural vision of state
development, and communication between them is quite formal and inefficient. One of the
main criteria of the division of population in these opposed categories is the national selfidentification,
which confirms the key role of national factors in determining the intercultural
dialogue in the country. The ambivalence in social and cultural orientations of Moldovan
citizens determined the ambiguity in the civilizational status of Moldova. This causes the
presence of fragmented and conflictual political culture in Moldova, which affects national
consolidation and modernization of the state in general. The purpose of this paper lies in
highlighting and analyzing the features of consciousness and socio-political behavior of
representatives of various ethnic groups in Moldova, and the main national and ethnocultural
problems and issues characteristic for Moldovan society during the last 20 years.