{{Short description|Moldavian, later Romanian jurist and politician}} '''Ion Strat''' (1836–October 20, 1879) was a Moldavian, later Romanian jurist and politician. thumb|right|200px| Romanian economist and politician Ioan Strat Born in Roman,<ref name="r177"/> his secondary education took place under the auspices of a tutor from Heidelberg.<ref name="u150"/> Between 1855 and 1859, he studied law and public administration at the universities of Heidelberg and Berlin, obtaining a doctorate from the latter institution.<ref name="r177"/><ref name="u150"/><ref>Nechita, Pohoață, p. 10-11</ref> Upon his return home, he became personal secretary to the Moldavian interior minister, Mihail Kogălniceanu.<ref name="r177"/><ref name="n87"/> In 1860, he was appointed professor of political economy at the newly founded University of Iași.<ref name="r177">Rosetti, p. 177</ref> The first head of the political economy department at age 24, he soon became its first rector as well as its first law faculty dean. He served as rector until the following year and left Iași in 1862.<ref name="r177"/><ref name="u150">{{in lang|ro}} [http://150.uaic.ro/personalitati/economie-si-administrarea-afacerilor/ioan-strat/ Ioan Strat] at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University site</ref><ref>{{in lang|ro}} [http://www.uaic.ro/despre-uaic/rectorii-universitatii-din-1860-pana-prezent/ "Rectorii Universității din 1860 până în prezent"], at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University site</ref> He became a member of the state council established in 1864. He was part of three cabinets: Finance Minister under Constantin Bosianu (January–June 1865), Religious Affairs Minister under Ion Ghica (July 1866-February 1867) and again Finance Minister under Lascăr Catargiu (January–March 1876). He also worked as a diplomat in Paris and Constantinople.<ref name="r177"/> He served in several legislatures of the Romanian Parliament. Following Alexandru Ioan Cuza's coup in May 1864, he became Senator;<ref name="n87">Nechita, Pohoață, p. 87</ref> in April 1866, he was elected to the Constituent Assembly for Mihăileni;<ref>Nechita, Pohoață, p. 13</ref> in 1875 he was elected to what was now the Assembly of Deputies, for Suceava County;<ref>Nechita, Pohoață, p. 16</ref> and he was again a senator at the time of his death.<ref>Nechita, Pohoață, p. 17</ref>
His principal work was ''Economia politică'' ("Political Economy", 1869), the country's first university-level treatise on the subject.<ref name="r177"/><ref name="u150"/> He also wrote ''Un coup d'oeil sur le question roumaine'' ("A Look at the Romanian Question", 1858), ''De Italorum jure criminali'' ("On Italian Criminal Law", 1859) and ''Studii asupra bugetului'' ("Studies on the Budget", 1868).<ref name="r177"/> Strat was among those who helped set up institutions for the nascent Romanian state after the Union of the Principalities in 1859. He helped cement political economy as a science, and trained students with a view toward modernizing the economy.<ref name="u150"/> He believed Romania would remain an agricultural country for the time being and saw no possibility of industrialization taking place, because the necessary conditions were not present. A committed supporter of free trade, he believed economic activity was governed by natural forces and should be free of all constraints, including state-imposed ones. This belief extended to opposing forced state-sponsored industrialization.<ref>Hitchins, p. 127</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== *Keith Hitchins, ''A Concise History of Romania'', Cambridge University Press, 2014, {{ISBN|978-052-1872-38-6}} *Vasile D. Nechita, Ion M. Pohoață, ''Din istoricul liberalismului economic în România: Ioan Strat, un deschizător de drumuri'', Editura Porto-Franco, 1993, {{ISBN|978-973-5572-98-3}} *Dimitrie Rosetti, ''Dicționarul Contimporanilor'', Editura Lito-Tipografiei "Populara", Bucharest, 1897
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Strat, Ion}} Category:1836 births Category:1879 deaths Category:People from the Principality of Moldavia Category:People from Roman, Romania Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Category:Romanian economists Category:Romanian diplomats Category:Romanian textbook writers Category:Academic staff of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University Category:Rectors of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University Category:Members of the Senate of Romania Category:Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) Category:Ministers of culture of Romania Category:Ministers of finance of Romania