Publication

Democracy in Bulgaria: Still Fragile After 30 Years of Transition

20.11.2020

Over the past few years, the European Union has coped with far-reaching political, economic and social changes and a string of successive and sometimes overlapping crises. The financial and economic crisis, refugee and migration flows and the Covid-19 pandemic all underscore both the extent to which our world is interconnected and the vulnerabilities of modern societies. Globalization, digitalization and the all-encompassing information age are indeed providing an unending challenge to all.

GLOBSEC’s report, Voices of Central and Eastern Europe: Perceptions of democracy & governance in 10 EU countries, provides unique insight into public satisfaction with the functioning of democracy and governance in ten Central and Eastern European countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

This country report focuses specifically on Bulgaria. As the Bulgarian partner within the project, the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) has assessed Bulgarian specific results presented in-country report on public opinion in the Balkan country.

The key findings of this report are:

  • An ambivalent relationship with liberal democracy is shared among Bulgarians.
  • There is a sense of media censorship and distrust in mainstream media in Bulgaria.
  • The willingness of Bulgarians to trade away some of their rights and freedoms in exchange for more security and preservation of Bulgarian traditional values is high.
  • Migration is seen as the biggest threat to the Bulgarian identity and values.
  • Support for authoritarianism is on the rise in Bulgarian society.

Read more in the fact-sheets and reports below (both in English and Bulgarian).

For more information about Bulgaria, please visit CSD’s website.