Bulgaria’s Political Turmoil as a Democratisation Event?

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 citizens by means of peer group discussions.