Political Studies ISSUE 1-2, 2021

The paper examines the phenomenon of the 2021 Bulgarian parliamentary elections. The case study is focused on five distinctive features: /1/ the electoral success of new parties; /2/ the intensity, efficiency and main demands of the mass protests preceding the triple parliamentary elections; /3/ the downward trend in the exceptionally low turnout; /4/ the electoral cost of party clientelism and corruption of the incumbent parties; /5/ the destabilisation of the party system and the possible trajectories of change.

The purpose of the article is to summarize the results of the general elections in Bulgaria, held on 4th of April 2021 and to highlight the main reasons for these results. The main focus is on the electoral dynamics among the main parties compared to previous parliamentary elections. In the course of the text, the demographic profile of the voters of GERB, “There is such a people”, BSP, MRF and “Democratic Bulgaria” is analysed in detail. The text lists the factors and reasons for the outcome of the individual formations, as well as the main challenges facing them.

The article aims to address the fragmentation and the oppositions dividing the opposition in Bulgaria in the light of the parliamentary elections on April 4 2021, the “short” 45th National Assembly and the early parliamentary elections on July 11 2021. Following the mass citizens protests in 2020, all opposition parties did campaign against the incumbent party GERB and its allies and claimed to dismantle the authoritarian model of governance and to tackle the endemic corruption. This seemed to be the main common goal of the opposition. In the end, the opposition actors discovered their political immaturity and incapacity to construct a viable alternative of government. Above all, the elections in 2021 have revealed and deepened the divides amongst the opposition forces.

Against the background of the increasingly common opinions about the blurring of the classic division between left and right in politics, in the election campaign the leading Bulgarian parties presented platforms that are largely close to the so-called “left-right consensus”. Both established and emerging political actors have been influenced by strong populist projections, turning the election campaign into confronting impossibilities. The big question is whether this consensus is another sign of the end of the traditional left-right dichotomy or it is another disease of the political systems, which can be overcome precisely by returning to this sustainable division.

The study evaluates to what degree of importance and through what specific political alternatives the need of serious reforms and changes into Bulgarian social policy was addressed and articulated during the two campaigns for the parliamentary elections in 2021. The focus on the “social dimension“ in the pre-election debate is more than grounded, because of the lasting existence of considerable social inequalities and problems which turned to be a chronicle diseases in the Bulgarian development. The text tries to evaluate the “social dimension” of the parliamentary election through the prism of the existing social problems in the country. That is because the answers (reform plans and declared political measures) presented by the different political parties and coalitions which took part into the elections are analyzed with regard to the existing social problems. By following this approach, the study is organized upon three main themes. The first section gives a systematized description of the leading social challenges faced by the Bulgarian population and of the main problems in the functioning of the country’s social policy. The second section is an attempt of evaluation not only of the importance of the social problematic into the elections debate and parties programmes. It also analyses the character and possible impact of the proposed political alternatives and solutions which are supposed to address the social problems in Bulgaria.

This observation is a pilot part from a more comprehensive study on VMROBulgarian National Movement. Theoretical framework for political actors positioning in this segment is outlined retrospectively – mainly in the field of conservativeness of stances. Indications of such are identified via reviewing of 1,320 official party publications over a year, 48 monthly waves of representative research, main campaigning messages and programme indicators analysis, as well as electorate profiling. As a result, a hypothesis is motivated and discussed of an attempt for positive campaigning on otherwise radical appeals – labelled “radical normality”.

The first part of the article examines the tools through which, to date, Russia is trying to influence the Bulgarian political system, as well as the reaction of the Bulgarian political institutions to these attempts. The second part analyzes the role of the US and the EU. The third part examines the programs and priorities of the political formations in the 45th National Assembly. The paper concludes with the forecast that, in the near future, Bulgarian foreign policy will likely continue to rely on some sort of “balance” between NATO and Russia.

The article examines and theorizes some current techniques and tools for persuasive impact in virtual space during the election campaign of the regular parliamentary elections in April 2021 and the extraordinary ones held in July of the same year. The tools “live stream”, “sponsored publication”, “remarketing function” are theoretically differentiated and practically analyzed. The possibilities and the application in the Bulgarian political sphere of the most up-to-date platform for editing and sharing short videos - Tik Tok are presented. Sustainable argumentative means that dominate the virtual environment are sought. The article is part of the project “Techniques and tools for persuasion in online communication” under the program “Young Scientists and Post-Doctoral Students”, funded by the Research Fund at the Faculty of Philosophy of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Sofia.

Political communications; anti-systemic parties; rules of strategic communications; pre-election communications in traditional and social media

The article is positioned within the understanding of populism as a discursive practice and strategy characteristic of all political actors. Such an understanding turns the scope of the concept of populism from ideology or identity, i.e. noun (populist), which is thought and evaluated through the binary opposition populists - non-populists, into a characteristic, i.e. adjective (populist), which can be observed and measured on certain scales. The aim of the research is to apply such a framework regarding the political discourse in the days after the elections for the National Assembly from 4 April 2021.

The article argues that Bulgaria is experiencing a negative transformation, a transition from post-communism to post-democracy expressed in the transition from corruption to endemic corruption and state capture. The aim of the article is twofold: on the one hand, to analyze the current hot political debate on the rule of law, on the other hand, to conceptualize in an innovative and original way the political transformations that make predictable and inevitable giant corruption scandals like Magnitsky, Pandora’s files. The first introduces the author’s concept of the transition from post-communism to post-democracy, which articulates three different transformations in post-communist development, each defining the rule of law differently. The second part considers the civil mobilizations against the corruption model as an expression and catalyst for the formation of active and contestant citizenship. The third part analyses the three-pole model of the state capture, as well as the coalition for political change.

This article aims to present and examine the results of an original dataset of collective protest actions in Bulgaria from 2009 to 2017. Unlike previous studies that focus on a specific protest movement or protest wave, this dataset consists of all collective protest actions in the form of demonstrations, strikes, blockades, marches, petitions, etc., including information about their demands, repertoires and number of participants. Along with the description of the initial findings of the dataset, the article makes a periodization of the protest cycle in three separate phases: an ascending phase with reactions against austerity measures and the emergence of new protest movements (2009-2012), the mass discontent against the political elite (2013) and demobilization of the mass protest and the rise of contention over cultural issues (from 2014 onwards). The findings offer arguments against the backward hypothesis of the civil society in Bulgaria and describe the most complete picture of the quantitative dynamics of the protest mobilizations.

EU eastern enlargement is a historical success. However, up to the date this statement doesn’t seem so undisputable. The Europeanization of the newcomers from the Eastern and Central Europe is under suspicions. The enlargement policy „new approach“ to the Western Balkans is based mainly on the reforms on the implementation of the conditionality, but it doesn’t change significantly the conditions for the influence of the member states on this implementation itself. The dynamics of the national interests of the member states in fact has the formative effect on the enlargement policy. Therefore, the research of this dynamic is important for the improvement of enlargement policy. Bulgarian case seems suitable for this research agenda. The statement that there are no patron member state for Bulgarian accession is widespread in the academic literature. From this point of view, the research on EU member states influence on the Bulgarian accession will be useful by the findings for the parameters of this influence. This article present result of the content analisys of 37 interviews with key participants in Bulgarian accession process. This results give the possibility for answers of the questions – who, how much, when, how and why support/resist Bulgarian membership, as well as for the answer of more general questions – how the dynamic of EU member states interests is reflected to the Bulgarian way to EU membership and therefore on the quality of the result.

The presidency of the Council of the EU gives member states a chance for visibility, publicity, manifestation of their capacities and strengths as well as an opportunity to navigate independently the connotations and impressions, connected to them in the public field in European scale. For Bulgaria changing the negative stereotypes in the European media sphere was a key element holding the Presidency in 2018 as stated multiple times by public officials. The following analysis aims to trace what is the media image of Bulgaria in three main European news outlets and to identify the persistent topics that create the public profile of the country in the EU public sphere during the Presidency.