Bulgaria’s Political Turmoil as a Democratisation Event?
Project Team
Dr James Dawson, Assistant Professor (Research), Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations
Duration
December 2023 — March 2025
Project overview
This research project will address whether Bulgaria’s current phase of political turmoil, evident through street-based mobilisations and five elections in just two years, can justifiably be considered a positive phase in the country’s path to democratisation. To make sense of this ambivalent democratic trajectory, the Principal Investigator will undertake two months of fieldwork in Bulgaria during which time he aims to conduct interviews with activists and intellectuals from across the political spectrum, while seeking to gauge responses of ordinary citzens by means of peer group discussions.
Project objectives
By considering whether ‘political turmoil’ can lead to democratisation, this research will address a wider conundrum that is of interest to scholars and practitioners of democracy working beyond the country’s borders: is societal polarisation (inclusive of populist claims-making) simply a wrecking ball destined to lay waste to hard fought institutional gains or may it instead be understood as a turbulent and necessary phase in the expansion of the democratic public sphere? The former interpretation prevails in much mainstream political science theorising stressing party system institutionalisation and the perils of polarisation (after Sartori 1976) while the latter argument is rooted in agonistic theories of democracy (Fraser 1990, Mouffe 1999) and finds empirical support in the new social movements that reshaped the landscape of Western politics after World War II.
Impact statement
In the first case, this research is of interest to scholars and practitioners of democracy in, besides Bulgaria, other states in Post-Socialist Europe where similar challenges apply. This audience can be reached most effectively by means of short publications in research blogs. In addition, the projected journal special section and workshop will provide networking and research opportunities to a wider group of scholars.
Outputs
This project is expected to have the following outputs: (i) two journal articles; (ii) a journal special section; (iii) online workshop; (iv) conference presentations; (v) research blog article(s).
