Samenvatting

More than three decades after the fall of the communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the expected triumph of the liberal democracy did not prove to be a straightforward phenomenon. The post-communist states entered the process of democratization with the plan of reuniting with their Western counterparts (Krastev & Holmes, 2019). However, instead of progressing linearly towards its goal of democratic consolidation, the region increasingly faces the challenge of democratic backsliding (Cianettia, Dawson, & Hanley, 2018).
As part of the wave of post-communist democratization, Bulgaria is one of the acute, but rarely researched examples of democratic decline. Considering its differing transition and its consistent progress towards consolidation, this dissertation aimed at expanding the scope of the academic framework by analyzing the political conditions, which have contributed to its democratic backsliding. Therefore, main question of this research was: “Why is democracy in Bulgaria backsliding?”.
Through analyzing the existing literature and conducting three semi-structure interviews with professionals in the fields of democracy, populism, and civil society, the research concluded that the democratic backsliding in Bulgaria is a result of a combination of unfavorable political developments. It was proven that Bulgaria’s democracy struggles with deficiencies, in relation to the rule of law, judicial and media independence, and corruption.
Three main political conditions have a particularly unfavorable and long-term impact on the country’s democracy. Firstly, the participation of the communist political elite in the early transition of the state led to the compromised institutionalization of the fundamental democratic values and contributed to the development of clientelism and corruption. Secondly, the practices of executive aggrandizement, used by opportunistic politician, erode Bulgaria’s democracy through their connections with oligarchs. Finally, the inability of the European Union to address Bulgaria’s deficiencies prior to its accession, rewarded rather than punished the insufficient democratic conditions.