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The paper explores how the leaders of parliamentary represented parties in Bulgaria discussed Fidesz's policies in the period 2010-2019. Furthermore, it attempts to explain why Orbán's brand of conservative illiberalism has emerged as a normative ideal for a number of Bulgarian political parties, including the Bulgarian socialists after 2016. The paper argues that so-called 'democratic backsliding' in CEE, and Bulgaria more specifically, cannot be understood without acknowledging the role of decommunization for the rehabilitation and rise of far-right nationalist discourses. Within a common framework of capitalist free markets and decommunization, a series of ideological 'slippages' from 1990s liberalism to post-2008 conservatism has taken place. It is the consistent backsliding of left-wing thought in Bulgaria that has made a critique of liberalism possible mainly from a conservative point of view, even for the socialists. Third, the paper argues that while Bulgarian politicians praise Orbán and his conservative illiberalism on the domestic scene, they pay lip service to liberal values in their international discourse, pre-empting in this way criticism from the EU. It is precisely Orbán's open normative ideological challenge that has made Hungary the 'poster child' of illiberalism distracting attention away from his political followers in countries such as Bulgaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether a country's innovative capacity increases when the business sector invests more in research and development. The empirical investigation covers Serbia and its three neighboring countries in the European Union - Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria - for the period from 2011 to 2021. The results indicate that an increase in investment by the business sector at the current level of GDP influences the increase in innovation in the case of Serbia, Hungary, and Bulgaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use data from a new international dataset – the European Skills and Jobs Survey – to create a unique measure of skills-displacing technological change (SDT), defined as technological change that may render workers' skills obsolete. We find that 16 percent of adult workers in the EU are impacted by SDT, with significant variance across countries, ranging from a high of 28 percent in Estonia, to below seven percent in Bulgaria. Despite claims that technological change contributes to the deskilling of jobs, we present evidence that SDT is associated with dynamic upskilling of workers. The paper also presents the first direct micro-evidence, based on worker survey responses, of the reinstatement effect of automating technology, namely a positive contribution of automation to the task content and skills complexity of the jobs of incumbent workers. Despite the recent focus on the polarising impact of automation and associated reskilling needs of lower-skilled individuals, our evidence also draws attention to the fact that SDT predominantly affects higher-skilled workers, reinforcing inequalities in upskilling opportunities within workplaces. Workers affected by SDT also experience greater job insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused the global healthcare to face one of the most significant challenges since the World Health Organization was founded over 70 years ago. The development and approval of marketing authorization for vaccines with the COVID-19 indication represents an opportunity to address this public health threat. The aim of this study is to analyze the awareness of healthcare professionals (HCPs) on the benefit-risk balance, safety, and risk minimization measures associated with vaccine administration. This is an open-label, prospective, 1-year cross-sectional study (2021–2022). It was conducted using the indirect anonymous survey method by completing an online and paper questionnaire containing open and close-ended questions. The results obtained locally and internationally were validated, systematized, compared, and analyzed. The study included 344 HCPs from 40 countries on six continents. The data show that among HCPs, the highest proportion are pharmacists and doctors in the age group of 21–30 years. А 20% difference in results was observed regarding the statement that vaccines approved for use are of high quality, efficacious, and safe, 68% (on local level) and 88% (on global level) of the respondents agreeing. On the other hand, ∼80% of HCPs both in Bulgaria and abroad felt that they need additional professional data for the vaccines authorized for use. Surveys assessing the awareness and attitudes of HCPs regarding risk management and adverse reactions are key to increasing the level of informed decision-making and can help fighting the world infodemic with data from trusted sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the effects of fiscal policy in an economy with search and matching frictions. To this end, a dynamic general-equilibrium model with government sector is calibrated to Bulgarian data (1999–2018). Two regimes are compared and contrasted – the exogenous (observed) vs. optimal policy (Ramsey) case. The focus of the paper is on the relative importance of consumption vs. income taxation, as well as on the provision of utility-enhancing public services. The main findings from the computational experiments performed in the paper are: (i) The optimal steady-state income tax rate is zero; (ii) The benevolent Ramsey planner provides the optimal amount of the utility-enhancing public services, which are now three times lower; (iii) The optimal steady-state consumption tax needed to finance the optimal level of government spending is 18.3 % , slightly lower than the rate in the exogenous policy case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of interest rates and inflation on GDP growth has been the subject of long debates and many research studies: from purely theoretical analysis of the channels through which this is accomplished, to empirical studies on a broad panel of countries. Because of these shared arguments about the impact of interest rates and inflation on GDP growth, as an area of investigation in this paper we took FYROM, Bulgaria and Romania. The paper examines existing theory to create an analytical framework for the impact of interest rate and inflation on GDP, and to quantitatively evaluate the importance of these variables for economic growth. A cointegration analysis with three variables (interest rate, inflation and GDP growth) and a Granger causality analysis are implemented to examine the relations between these variables. Unit root tests are applied to examine the relationships among the respective data series. The target period is from 2000 until present time, offering a relatively positive first period until the advent of the debt crisis by the end of the 2000s. The basic aim is to investigate the links between monetary and fiscal measures, especially for developing countries that are striving for economic growth without a strong home currency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies the categories of accommodation establishments' names in Bulgaria and determines the role of a property's characteristics (category, location, type, and size/capacity) on the chosen name using a quantitative approach. The findings indicate that male, female, and family names, and names indicating geographic toponyms, represent nearly half of all names. Plants, emotions, and quality-related words are also widely used. Furthermore, results reveal that category, location, size, and type of establishment influence the naming of establishments. In addition, the findings illustrate that Bulgarian names prevail in the naming of establishments. Binary logistic regression reveals that urban, higher category, and larger properties are more likely to have foreign names. The theoretical and destination marketing implications are discussed as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase in protest intensity that Bulgaria experienced over the 2012–14 period had dramatic effects, bringing down a government and maintaining pressure on its successor. These protests started with a campaign over high energy prices, but grew and shifted to address broader issues of governance, encapsulated in slogans such as '24 years of fake transition are enough.' Dramatic though they were, the lasting effects are unclear in environment where the legacies of the communist regime led to a weak civil society and low levels of trust. This paper uses a unique catalogue of protest events over the 2010–2016 period to identify the character and form of protest observed in Bulgaria. Drawing on Tarrow's concept of protest cycles, the aim is to determine why the protests grew and whether there may be more lasting effects after they subsided. The findings point to the importance of the longevity of the cycle in creating spaces for the establishment of social relations that may have more lasting effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronavirus pandemic brought immense challenges to journalists worldwide, including new threats to media freedom, journalism safety and practice. The impact of the pandemic on journalism is yet to be fully understood and examined but this paper contributes to the field by focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 health crisis on the media in countries with democratic deficits, such as Bulgaria. Studies on former Eastern bloc countries have become few and far between recently so this research aims to fill this gap by examining how the coronavirus pandemic and associated restrictions have impacted journalism practice in Bulgaria and how journalists, and independent media organisations responded and adapted to the pressures in 2020. Our findings from semi structured interviews with media practitioners show that it is the independent media that has borne the brunt of the crisis. In addition to existing challenges to press freedom, many Bulgarian journalists encountered new limits to their daily practice in reporting on a topic of significant public importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper analyses speech data of a monolingual Bulgarian girl ("Etty", aged 3;11) with protracted phonological development (PPD). Etty's profile demonstrates the strong effects of prohibitive word structure constraints on segmental and whole-word accuracy. Single-word utterances were audio-recorded by a native speaker and transcribed phonetically by three transcribers. Data were analysed within a constraints-based nonlinear phonological framework (Bernhardt & Stemberger, Introduction to this issue). Even though the child's segmental system met age-level expectations in stressed syllables, strong constraints against initial unstressed syllables and consonant sequences reduced her overall accuracy and intelligibility. The data highlight the importance of examining all aspects of the phonological hierarchy, and further define the scope of PPD for Bulgarian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The downstream migration of young-of-the-year (YoY) of four sturgeon species (Acipenser ruthenus, A. stellatus, A. gueldenstaedtii and Huso huso) was monitored in the Danube at river km 396 in 8 continuous years (2014–2021). A total of 713 YoY specimens were registered for the whole period. The most frequent migrant on an annual basis was A. ruthenus, observed in 6 out of 8 years. The most abundant young sturgeons during the first downstream migration were A. ruthenus with 599 specimens, followed by A. stellatus. For the species H. huso, only 7 specimens were registered for the entire period. The natural hybrids A. ruthenus × A. stellatus were quite frequent. One YoY specimen of A. gueldenstaedtii was registered after 10 years with no detections in the Lower Danube River. The catch per unit effort (CPUE/10 ha) was 0.346 for the whole period for all sturgeon species. This paper suggests a method for calculating the CPUE taking into account the studied area, with the goal of ensuring comparability of monitoring data between the countries of the Lower Danube. Recommendations are also made for better protection of the identified nursery site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports the first results of the organic geochemical characterization of mudstones from the Shavar Fm (eastern Rhodope Mt., Bulgaria). The rock matrix is unevenly impregnated by amorphous organic matter at the onset of the oil generation (Tmax ~ 445ºC; PI – 0.1–0.2). High total organic carbon contents (avg. TOC – 5.9 wt. %) and HI (~720 mg HC/g TOC) argue for oil-prone source-rocks with very good hydrocarbon potential. The n-alkane distributions with maxima in the range n-C20-25 are consistent with organic matter origin from submerged plants. Additionally, sterane distributions dominated by C28-30 4-methyl steranes, indicate dinoflagellate contribution. High pristane/phytane ratio (Pr/Ph = 2–4) argue for deposition under oxic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changes that have been brought about since the end of state socialism include modifications to the urban landscape of cities like Sofia, Bulgaria. There has been a decline in the number of green spaces, sports facilities and state-run sports programmes. The changing urban landscape has seen an increase in car travel, car parking and projects such as the Sofia Metro. Citizens from Bulgaria are among the least active in Europe; this has an enormous effect on the prevalence of obesity and non-communicable diseases. However, during the last decade, there has been an increase in recreational running, and in particular informal running clubs in Sofia. This paper uses recreational running to understand the changing landscape of post-socialist cities and its effect on techniques of public health. Using data from two in-depth qualitative case studies of informal running clubs from Sofia to examine the effects of the changing urban landscape on recreational fitness practices and well-being, the rationale of this paper is that this has the potential to generate fresh suggestions about the effective promotion of public health through exercise in view of how and where urban running is currently conducted in post-socialist landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban plannings and design processes, through land management, are important factors that significantly influence the distribution of urban green lands (UGLs), and thus, the provision of ecosystem services (ESs), thereby providing opportunities for managing climate adaptation processes at the local level. However, planning for UGLs is often secondary to other planning categories, and they often remain underutilized. Through an analysis of Master Plans of major urban centres in Serbia and Bulgaria, this paper discusses the conceptualization of UGLs and the integration of ESs in planning and design processes. Based on findings obtained through an Analytical Hierarchy Process, this paper develops a conceptual framework for linking ESs with different UGL types in the course of urban planning, in order to achieve a better application of UGLs in strategies for the amelioration of micro-climatic conditions in urban areas. This paper proposes framework for an ecosystem sensitive conceptualization of UGLs in planning and design process, where UGL typology should replace functional categories, and spatial indicators are defined in relation to UGL types. Such an approach can improve the understanding and ES-sensitive application of UGLs in planning processes and local adaptation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper discusses how 'new heritage' is created in a fragile institutional context by analysing the example of the historical complex Tzari Mali Grad (TMG) in Bulgaria. The analysis builds upon Regina Bendix's notion of 'communities of patrons' and further develops its analytical potential. The article focuses on the hierarchical community structures; on the transformation of patrons into leaders; on the dynamics of patrons' engagement with heritage which we call 'spiral of involvement'; and on the specifics of the fragile post-socialist context, which allows individual actors to substitute public institutions by restricting their power in heritage decision making. To explore the case, we triangulate qualitative and quantitative data. We conclude that this is an instrumental approach towards heritage, focused on the needs of the present rather than on the heritage's authenticity. This contextual specificity allows individual patrons to become heritage leaders and to cultivate communities of patrons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of a societal base of xenophobia in Europe poses a challenge for the Muslim minorities to alter power relations in the society. In the light of the previous and the current research as well as established theoretical insights, this paper suggests that racial discourse now strategically allows a particular form of pluralism in society, a dominant pluralism, which occludes the possibility for the Muslims to be involved equally in the public and political life. The results of the qualitative analysis, based on interviews conducted with groups holding xenophobic ideas in Austria, Bulgaria and Italy, confirmed earlier observations on contemporary racism, which suggested incommensurability of Muslim minorities with the European culture; their non-assimilative adaptation to society; their expulsion if this adaptation fails and advocating populism. Space is a crucial aspect of exclusion in this discursive frame because minorities are excluded from public and communicative spaces. The discourse is supported by the conceptual sources of a dominant form of pluralism that are found in Michel Foucault and master–slave relationship in philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As the concept of food justice travels and morphs through its engagement with new geographies, practices and worldviews a key question emerges: what is the transformative capacity of food justice, if any? That is, what are the conditions and agencies that actually confer transformative capacity to food justice as a movement, a narrative, a framework, an outcome or a vision? And, how can academics contribute to unpack (or hinder) this transformative capacity? In his paper I contend that the concept of justice offers a different entry point from well-worn terms such as sustainability and food security by positioning the need to address inequalities’ root causes at the forefront of a transformative food agenda. However, if we aim to nurture this potential transformative capacity of food justice, it is paramount to acknowledge its place-based character, relationality and inherently political character. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines self-provisioning and homemade food practices as examples of socially inclusive forms of sustainability that have potential to contribute to the principles of food justice. While homemade food practices in Bulgaria resemble the philosophies of transnational alternative food movements such as Slow Food and the organics, these should not be viewed as a purposeful challenge to increasingly industrialised globalised markets. Rather, I suggest that homemade food in Bulgaria is an alternative to alternative food through its “quiet opposition” to neoliberal policies and post-socialist reforms, perceived as unjust by the majority of Bulgarian citizens. Moral support for elderly people and village dwellers, suffering most from discriminatory policies, growing economic inequalities and widening food gaps, is expressed through preferences for the natural taste of homemade foods circulated through informal networks. Whilst the transformative potential of self-provisioning practices as more democratic and socially inclusive forms of sustainability exists, however, it is also important to address the most serious threats to achieving food justice in Bulgaria: growing polarisation between villagers and urban-based policy makers, lack of recognition and stimuli for subsistence farming, and deprivation of access to space and resources for farming and food growing. Through an empirical focus on yogurt this paper demonstrates that food justice issues in Bulgaria do not just relate to the food sustainability in terms of human rights, “fairer” relations of production, environmental conservation and animal well-being, but also to the sustainability of families, communities, national traditions and identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there a 'resurrection' of death in the post-socialist countries brought about by a rediscovery of religious norms and values in the context of the global processes of (de)secularisation? Based on a sample of 20 in-depth biographical interviews with men and women 75 years old and over from Bulgaria, this paper examines the complex dynamics of the privatisation and liberation of religiosity from the grasp of the communist regime. This religiosity developed along with the surge in the interest in Christian rituals, including Christian funeral and mourning, with their reinvention and integration into systems of personal values. However, it lacked the understanding of the Orthodox religious ideas of (preparation for) the afterlife. What emerged was an original death culture, driven largely by pursuits for a reconfirmation of family, national and anti-communist identity. It reproduced an unstable knowledge about the formal aspects of rituals and, paradoxically, was permeated by internalised ideological patterns of mourning, enforced by cultural experts of the communist regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research hypothesis of this paper stems from the argument that the Bulgarian authorities and the broader audiences decode Roma integration through the prism of an inequalities-poverty-social exclusion framework, meaning that the growth of 'being integrated' is viewed as a gradual decrease of the value of indicators related to social exclusion and a steady rise in indicators of well-being. In elaborating their argument, the authors consult the recent 'integration literature' and then theoreticize the Bulgarian NRIS and the change of 'integration' vocabulary over time. A representative sociological survey is deployed as an empirical foundation for proving, or disputing, that the effects and consequences of the NRIS can be assessed based on the presented data. The explored data represent the self-assessment of individual exposures to the risk of discrimination and social exclusion in access to healthcare, employment and public services alongside the progress of NRIS. In addition, a baseline from an earlier period is used to visualize the course of social processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the travel intentions of tourists in the post-pandemic world. The sample includes 974 respondents from Bulgaria. The findings show that most of the respondents are ready to travel within 2 months after travel is allowed in the country. For their first trip, respondents will travel in the country, by their car and with their family. Hygiene, disinfection and reliable health system in a destination will be the leading factors in travellers' decisions, according to the findings. Women and older respondents have higher health and safety preferences than do men and younger respondents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results from the first application of molecular-genetic analysis combined with conventional light microscopy (LM) for identification of cylindrospermopsin (CYN) producers in field phytoplankton samples from Bulgaria. In total 68 cyanoprokaryotes were found by LM, out of which 18 were considered potential CYN-producers according to the literature. They occurred in different abundance (0-40%) in five waterbodies. The presence of CYN-producers was sought by application of the primer pair cynsulfF/cylnamR specific for the sulfotransferase gene (cyrJ) considered the best genetic marker for detection of CYN-toxigenic strains. Although CYN was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in two waterbodies (lake Vaya and reservoir Mandra), we did not find cyanoprokaryotes with cyrJ gene. Therefore, Raphidiopsis raciborskii, despite being identified by LM in both waterbodies where CYN occurred, was not the producer of this toxin and belonged to the European nontoxic population of the species. The same was true for the less widely spread Raphidiopsis mediterranea and Chrysosporum bergii (both found in small amounts only in lake Vaya). Our results on CYN occurrence without the assignment of its producer in the collected samples suggest that: 1) CYN remains stable in water after disappearance of the toxigenic species, or, more probably, 2) besides the already known species, there are others that are associated with the production of CYN. Because revealing of novel CYN producers is of ultimate importance for health risk assessment and water management, we propose more analyses to be performed in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the representation of women in radical right partiesand examines the often assumed relationship between the radical right andgender, namely that radical right parties are overwhelmingly ran, supported by,and representing the male part of the population. Using data from elections,party platforms, and parliamentary committees the paper asks ‘Are PRR partiesMännerparteien?' Using data from Bulgaria, we suggest that the Männerparteienargument is too simplistic and argue that in order to make a claim aboutrepresentation, one needs to study both female and male MPs and across all partyfamilies. We find that while radical right parties are still primarily composed ofmen, an examination of the substantive representation of women's issues, putsthis relationship into question. Furthermore, we show that while men outnumberwomen in all political parties, both radical right women and men have been moreactive in women's issues than their gender counterparts from other politicalparties. These findings suggest two things: one, we cannot study gender equalitymatters without comparing the activity of both men and women; and two, theclassification of radical right parties as Männerparteien based on descriptiverepresentation only, is too simplistic and to an extent, misleading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic aim of the present paper is to provide a historical overview of Bulgarian–Israeli relations from 1948 to 1990 (when diplomatic relations were re-established following their break off in 1967), and of Bulgarian state policy towards Jews in the country during the Second World War and the post-war Socialist period. The paper analyses the variety of factors that have affected that ‘triangular relationship’, such as the positive historical legacy of Bulgarian–Jewish relations that contributed to the salvation of Bulgarian Jews during the Holocaust, and the role and place of Bulgaria and Israel in the cold war confrontation that dominated international politics from the end of the 1940s to 1989. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This note aims at analyzing Bulgaria's high inflation regime during the 1990s. Two competing causes of high inflation are explored: changes in the rate of growth of the money supply in the economy and changes in the foreign exchange rate. Both correspond to traditional theoretical explanations: the monetarist view and the balance of payments approach. Evidence suggests that a variation in the exchange rate is significant in explaining the high inflation regime in Bulgaria whereas monetary growth appears to be insignificant. Consequently, the paper underlines the importance of stabilizing the exchange rate in the short run in order to avoid high inflation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates Bulgaria's trade strategy towards the European Economic Community (EEC) in the 1970s: a decade of intensified economic exchange between East and West thanks to détente and, simultaneously, of growing trade barriers due to the consolidation of the EEC's Common Market. The successes and failures of Bulgaria's endeavours are discussed through a study of economic cooperation with Denmark before and after its accession to the EEC in 1973. The main argument is that while Bulgarian economic policy focused on the rising regulatory impediments to trade with EEC members, it neglected the structural deficiencies of Bulgarian export production. Thereby, Bulgarian state officials strove to resolve foreign trade problems through diplomatic negotiations over customs regulations instead of advancing domestic economic reforms. This argument is supported by analysis of intergovernmental economic negotiations and trade deals between Bulgaria and Denmark during the 1970s. It highlights the different ways in which Bulgarian trade envoys in Copenhagen and top officials at home evaluated recurrent problems in accessing the Danish market and formulated solutions for these problems. Thus, instead of tackling internal structural problems, the blueprints for Bulgaria's foreign trade focused on external foes, namely trade discrimination against socialist countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bulgarian Dialectology as Living Tradition (BDLT) has been one of the longest-running Slavic digital humanities projects in the United States. Initially conceived in 2008 as a series of printed volumes, the digital project was built upon the foundation of a long-term international collaboration dating to the 1970s. As BDLT nears completion in 2019, this paper reflects on the trajectory of its development and its sustainability as an unfunded digital humanities project, and the ways it can serve as both a model and cautionary tale for others who seek to undertake similar work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online neuropsychological assessment batteries may facilitate the screening of cognitive functions in older adults and could be useful for early diagnosis and detection of cognitive impairments. The primary aim of this study was to assess the psychometric qualities of an online multi-domain cognitive assessment battery (General Cognitive Assessment Battery (GCAB) by Cognifit™) applied for the first time in Bulgaria. A total of 20 healthy older adults (6 male and 14 female, aged 60–82) completed the GCAB as well as the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) neuropsychological battery. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the demographic characteristics of the sample and the scores on the GCAB and the CERAD battery. The internal consistency of the GCAB was evaluated using item analysis and measured with Cronbach's alpha. The concurrent validity of the GCAB was assessed with respect to the CERAD using Spearman's r after verifying the linear relationship between the GCAB and CERAD scores. The GCAB showed good concurrent validity when compared with the corresponding CERAD tests. The correlation coefficients ranged from 0.67 for working memory to 0.47 for short-term auditory memory. We found very good reliability of the GCAB, with the inter-class correlation coefficient higher than 0.8 for all cognitive domains. There were no significant correlations between MMSE and GCAB scores. The GCAB was found to be valid for the cognitive screening of Bulgarian healthy older adults and may provide an adequate assessment of their cognitive status. The GCAB showed good concurrent validity when compared with the CERAD battery, measuring similar cognitive constructs. Further work is necessary to explore its validity and reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The poorest EU member-state Bulgaria also has the lowest press freedom ranking, significantly lagging behind all EU members, including neighbouring Romania and Greece. While "a laggard" in many respects, the country has leadership potential in at least one area: "post-truth" politics is not a new phenomenon. A prime example of its powerful impact was the ascent to power of the country's former king whose promise to change Bulgarians' lives in 800 days led to the electoral victory of his newly formed political movement in 2001 and his subsequent appointment as Prime Minister. A 2016-2017 survey of Bulgarian journalists as part of the Worlds of Journalism study shows they have grappled for years with the kind of issues their Western colleagues have been lamenting about over the past few months--from covert collusions with political and business elites to a range of corruption practices such as bribes, "subsidised" smear campaigns and "sponsorships" of TV programmes in exchange for cover-ups. A resilience technique adopted by journalists is that of self-othering, which involves a strong condemnation of the "dire" state of journalism and distancing from the unethical practices that plague their profession without assuming any responsibility. This paper "unpacks" this process of self-othering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper describes acquisition of word-initial (WI) trilled /r/ in clusters and as a singleton in 60 Bulgarian 3-5-year-olds with typically developing (TD) versus protracted phonological development (PPD). A native speaker audio-recorded and transcribed single-word responses to a picture-naming task (110 words) that included eight words with WI rhotic clusters and two with WI singleton /r/. Accuracy was significantly higher in the TD groups and for the PPD groups, by age. Mismatch patterns varied: the PPD cohort had the most varied patterns although the younger children with PPD showed more /r/ deletion in clusters, and the TD groups and 5-year-olds with PPD more substitutions for /r/. Substitutions for rhotics included taps (most frequent; possibly an acceptable variant), voiced uvular and palatal fricatives, laterals, glides, other rhotics, stops and nasals. These results add to the growing database on Bulgarian phonological acquisition concerning accuracy and mismatches by group and age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper illustrates the current state of Thracian mounds in Bulgaria, reviewing its theory and practice from a new heritage perspective, grounded in the field of Heritage studies. It points out the critical need of reversing the present state of mis-protection and mismanagement that results in cultural disinheritance, mass looting and destruction. It is argued that the preservation and development of Thracian sites and landscapes is enhanced by the ongoing heritization process of ascribing multiple values, wider definitions and roles of cultural heritage in society. This recently acquired heritage significance has activated a growing awareness and interest on the side of scientists from diverse fields such as archaeology and heritage studies, spatial planning and geography, medicine and biology, genetic studies, ethnography, linguistics and religious studies, claiming their right to explore and contribute new evidence of the historical, cultural and ethnic continuity between ancient Thracians and present day Bulgarians. Due to the increasing integration of sciences and synthesis of knowledge, links in value systems, toponyms, language, folklore, traditions and rituals, as well as genetics, become more visible, promising to restore a lost collective identity and sustain a valuable ancestral heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper compares the EU's accession negotiations with Bulgaria and Turkey to assess the conditions under which their negotiations unfolded and the role of bilateral issues in that aspect. To do so, the paper highlights the role of the member state vetoes and bilateral relations in the EU negotiations. It needs to be noted that even though the European Commission condemns the impact of bilateral problems on the accession process, unresolved bilateral issues, nonetheless, emerge as major factors complicating the EU's enlargement process, its effectiveness as well as the pace and nature of the negotiations with multiple applicants and candidates. We look at role of individual member states as veto players on the EU accession negotiations, specifically becoming the most important factor in the Turkish case. We limit our focus to the lack of consensus and commitment among the EU member states towards Turkey as a complicating factor in the EU negotiations. We are able to ascertain that a key difference between Bulgaria and Turkey with regards to their EU accession was the member state vetoes for Turkey's negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is an effective strategy to promote action research regarding health and substance use issues. The London-based Centre for Ethnicity and Health's CBPR model was replicated in Belgium to study substance use and service utilisation in Bulgarian, Slovakian and Turkish communities in the city of Ghent. This article focuses on the implementation of the CBPR model, challenges and adaptions linked to the Belgian context. In this paper, we describe the study design and actors involved, namely (1) community organisations, (2) the community advisory board and (3) community researchers. Furthermore, we focus on the challenges and pitfalls of the CBPR method and its implications, including (1) community collaboration, (2) co-ethnic researchers, (3) characteristics of the respondents and (4) empowerment of the respective communities. We conclude by discussing potential pathways for future CBPR in the field of substance use and service utilisation among migrants and ethnic minorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During 1878–1918, blood libels triggered frequent antisemitic riots throughout Bulgaria. In two towns, Vratsa (1891) and Yambol (1899), Jews were charged with murder and kidnapping, respectively, and tried and acquitted. In this paper, I examine two archival documents that address these events to add nuance to our understandings of how the variety of antisemitisms played out in particular lived, historical contexts. The first document is a 235-page copy of the indictment and includes correspondence from before the Vratsa trial, the proceedings, and the verdict. Two of the defendants in that trial were my grandfather, Jochanan Benbassat, and his mother, Sara. The authenticity of the document is confirmed by a report on the trial in theBulgarian Law Reviewand by the press coverage at that time. The second document is an anonymous six-page copy of the indictment in the Yambol trial. It is consistent with reports published at that time in theBulletin de l’Alliance israélite universelleand other newspapers. The two documents and the press coverage of the trials disclose some imprecisions in other published descriptions of these trials. The examination of the documents adds to the research on the involvement of local populations, courts of law, and the press in the murder and saving of Jews, as well as the distinctions between sporadic, popular (social), and state-inspired (political) antisemitism. The documents also underscore the need for further study of the social conditions that nurture the transition from sporadic to popular antisemitism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semiotics is the study of signs addressing their action, usage, communication and signification (meaning). Edusemiotics—educational semiotics—is a recently developed direction in educational theory that takes semiotics as its foundational philosophy and explores the philosophical specifics of semiotics in educational contexts. As a novel theoretical field of inquiry, it is complemented by research known under the banner ‘semiotics in education’, which is largely an applied enterprise. In this respect edusemiotics is a new conceptual framework for both theoretical and empirical studies. Edusemiotics has also been given the status of being a new branch of theoretical semiotics and it was launched as such at the 12th World Congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies in September 2014 at the New Bulgarian University in Sofia. The article presents ‘semiosis’ as the action of signs across culture AND nature and posits ‘learning’ in terms of developing semiotic consciousness and semiotic competence. Semiosis is a process and as such it defies the Cartesian philosophy of substance-dualism that still informs the culture of education. The paper focuses specifically on university education permeated by disciplinary boundaries and the fragmentation of knowledge grounded in objective science inherited from modernity. Where is semiotics as the science of signs (or relations) in the context of academic culture? The authors conclude by affirming the transdisciplinary character of semiotics and edusemiotics and specify the distinctive focal points of transdisciplinary knowledge afforded by edusemiotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asen Georgiev was a Bulgarian lawyer and diplomat who confessed to working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) between 1957 and 1963. In a show trial staged in 1963 in Sofia Bulgaria, prosecutors alleged that he had been paid nearly $200,000 for his services and accused him of undermining the interests of the entire socialist camp by handing over Soviet secrets to the Americans. This article offers a comprehensive de novo analysis of the Georgiev case based on the extensive records of the Bulgarian State Security Service and individual declassified CIA documents. This study demonstrates that Georgiev's intelligence about Nikita Khrushchev was crucial for calling the Sino–Soviet split in 1960 and raises the possibility that he played unacknowledged roles in other international crises in 1961 and 1962. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School-to-work transitions are embedded in the institutional structures of educational systems. In particular, vocational education has been linked to greater horizontal gender segregation in employment. Similarly, research on higher education has uncovered how stratification at the tertiary level can promote gender segregation in the labour market. This paper investigates how gender typical employment is conditioned by the institutional features of the educational system in Bulgaria. Despite the post-socialist transformations of Bulgaria's educational system and its labour market, horizontal gender segregation has remained rather moderate from an international perspective. We use data from a 2012 nationally representative survey. We find that the educational system shapes the gendered occupational trajectories for men but it does not hold the same explanatory power for women. Neither vocational nor higher education has a significant effect for women. In contrast, men with vocational education are more likely to work in male-typed occupations and, in line with the literature, higher education steers men toward gender mixed and a-typical occupations. Our study points to the importance of educational institutional factors in shaping gender (a)-typical career paths. The Bulgarian case, in particular, offers insights into the mechanisms that can potentially decrease horizontal gender segregation in the labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

After 45 years of communism, Bulgaria held its first democratic elections in May 1990, following an interparty coup that had ended the totalitarian rule in November 1989. A new Bulgarian Constitution was adopted in 1991. During the following years of transition to democracy, a normal political environment was gradually established. Among the major achievements during this period were that the country joined NATO in spring 2004 and entered the European Union in January 2007. During this period of transition to a democratic political system and marketplace economy, the processes of decentralization, liberalization, and privatization led to a completely new media landscape with strong social impact. The past two decades have witnessed five presidential (1992, 1996, 2001, 2006, and 2011), seven parliamentary (1990, 1991, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2005, and 2009), six local (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011), and two European parliamentary elections (2007 and 2009) and the appointment of twelve governments in Bulgaria. The main objective of the proposed paper is to present the impact of media and, in particular, of television on the democratization developments in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article is a first attempt to provide a quantitative evaluation of the welfare gains resulting from the introduction of flat income taxation in Bulgaria in 2008. Using a calibrated microfounded endogenous growth model with physical and human capital accumulation and Bulgarian data, a computational experiment is performed to quantify the dynamic welfare effect of progressive income taxation vis-à-vis flat income taxation. The model demonstrates that significant welfare gains, measured in terms of per-period consumption, can be realized with the introduction of flat income taxation. In addition, these welfare gains increase proportionally with the length of the time horizon considered. Finally, sensitivity analysis was performed to demonstrate that the results obtained are robust. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper discusses the impact of neoliberalism on disability policy and activism. The paper highlights the neoliberalisation of postsocialist disability policy, as well as the convergence between the neoliberal critique of welfare-state paternalism and the advocacy of disabled people’s movement for deinstitutionalisation and direct payments (personal assistance). The discussion is supported by examples from Bulgaria and the United Kingdom. In conclusion, the paper argues that neoliberalism confronts the disabled people’s movement with two difficult tasks: to defend self-determination while criticising market-based individualism, and to defend the welfare state while criticising expert-based paternalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyanus Mill. genus, belonging to the Asteraceae family, includes more than 50 taxa, mainly growing in Central and Southern Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor, and the Caucasus. Previous investigations on Cyanus taxa have shown that they are rich source of flavonoids and phenolic compounds but, differently from species of genus Centaurea, almost devoid of sesquiterpene lactones. In the present study, the chemical composition of the essential oils from aerial parts of Cyanus adscendens (CA) and C. orbelicus (CO), collected in Bulgaria, and not previously investigated, was evaluated by GC-MS. The main components of CA were α-bergamotene (31.3%), (Z,Z,Z)-9,12,15-octadecatrien-1-ol (14.5%) and calarenepoxide (11.0%). Caryophyllene oxide (12.0%), together with α-cadinol (10.9%) and spathulenol (8.8%), were recognized as the main constituent of C. orbelicus EO. Furthermore, a complete review on the composition of all essential oils of the Cyanus taxa studied so far has been inserted and cluster analysis (PCA) was carried out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much has been written about Brexit and migration, but little from the perspective of Bulgarians in the UK. Through an online questionnaire followed by in-depth interviews, we study Bulgarians' 'stay' or 'leave' intentions in light of Brexit and then Covid-19. Combining cross-tabulation and regression analysis of survey data and narrative analysis of interview scripts, we show how migrants' plans are dependent on their position in the labour market and document the experiences of those who have returned. We find that stayers are more likely to be highly skilled and longer-resident in the UK. Most returns are only partially related to Brexit and are often finalized following the impact of Covid-19; family considerations are the main trigger to return. Many returnees are dissatisfied with life in Bulgaria. The article demonstrates that EU migrants' mobility decisions post-Brexit need to be examined in relation to other contingent factors operating at various scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bulgarian Government has made a commitment to inclusive early childhood education and care (ECEC) systems for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). High-quality ECEC settings are more inclusive and responsive to children's individual learning needs. In partnership with UNICEF, the Ministry for Education established a pilot project, 'Together from Kindergarten', to enhance quality and support early childhood settings in creating and maintaining quality conditions that support all children's right to access and participate in ECEC. As part of this project, the ECERS-3 was used as a broad measure to explore quality across 40 kindergarten settings. Evidence suggests that despite the positive attitudes of ECEC teachers towards inclusion, the quality of the kindergartens was low, with particular challenges concerning teacher–child interactions and individualised learning supports. The study offers important insights into how ECEC settings in Bulgaria can enhance quality to develop conditions that support children with SEND to participate in mainstream ECEC provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do interethnic tensions in some multiethnic countries escalate into violence while in other cases, the tensions exist but they are contained? Most theories focus on the nation-state model's exclusionary logic, different forms of institutional design, and external intervention by third-party actors. My argument centres around political divisions among the ethnic majority elites over conceptions of nationhood. Elites divided by a nationhood cleavage create an opportunity space for violence through a process of double ethnic outbidding. Majority nationhood cohesion, on the other hand, facilitates cooperation on ethnic issues among majority elites, prevents outbidding, and thus preserves interethnic peace. I develop these arguments building on outcome variation among three otherwise similar Southeast European countries and on conducting 33 semi-structured elite interviews. Post-communist Bulgaria and Montenegro built enduringly peaceful interethnic relations despite dark shadows of an assimilationist past in the former and the threat posed by greater Serbian ideology in the latter. Postcommunist North Macedonia, by contrast, has frequently experienced violent conflict despite a multiethnic past and a series of consociational arrangements tried until present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the question of how policy entrepreneurs influence the behaviour of social movements. It does so by presenting a new framework for analyzing social movements or collective action that emphasises the important role of individuals. In particular, it offers a systematic study of social movement leaders using the literature of policy entrepreneurship. We identify five areas that should be considered when assessing how policy entrepreneurs can foster policy or political changes in their society: (1) the motivations of policy entrepreneurs, (2) variations in their goals, (3) the characteristics and abilities of policy entrepreneurs, (4) their strategies and (5) the potential outcomes. We then place these changes on a 6-point continuum ranging from least extreme to most extreme. In testing our theoretical framework using the case study of Bulgarian protests against the First Borisov Cabinet, we develop theoretical insights that could be generalised to other social movements worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1978, Bulgarian dissident writer Georgi Markov was murdered on Waterloo Bridge by an unknown assassin. The brazen attack in central London, Markov's public profile and the alleged use of an exotic spy gadget (a poison umbrella) made the murder one of the Cold War's most infamous cases of political assassination. However, despite wide-spread suspicions the case formally remains open, with the British government taking only limited actions against Bulgaria, the presumed culprit. This article draws on recently declassified archival materials from the United Kingdom to provide the first historical account focusing on the British dimensions of the case. The article discusses Markov's journey to London, his murder and the British government's response. It argues that the limited response to Markov's murder largely followed uncertainty regarding the identity of the assassin and culpability of the Bulgarian state, as well as the political climate in the twilight years of détente. In contrast, British authorities responded tentatively to the attack on Litvinenko in 2006 and much more decisively to the attack on Skripal in 2018. This was due to the step change in the information environment providing more actionable intelligence and increasing unwillingness to accept Russian belligerence on UK soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We augment an otherwise standard business cycle model with a richer government sector and add modified cash in advance (CIA) and deposit considerations. In particular, both the cash in advance- and deposit constraints of in earlier work are extended to include private investment and government consumption. Also, part of the purchases are made using credit. This specification is then calibrated to Bulgarian data after the introduction of the currency board (1999–2020), gives a role to money and costly credit in accentuating economic fluctuations. In particular, the modified CIA constraint combines monetary with banking theory, and thus produces a novel mechanism that allows the framework to reproduce better observed variability and correlations among model variables, and those characterising the labour market in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bulgaria, like many other countries, has experienced the far-reaching consequences of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Seroprevalence studies serve as a crucial method for assessing the exposure and immunity levels within a population. In this serosurvey, which is the first of this kind conducted in Bulgaria, we enrolled 104 healthcare workers (HCWs) from one front-line Bulgarian hospital and 237 individuals from the general population. Serum samples were collected in December 2021 from the general population and in February 2023 from HCWs and the general population. The presence of four anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was evaluated: anti-Spike 1-IgG, anti-Nucleoprotein-IgG, anti-Spike1-IgA and anti-Recombinant binding domain neutralizing antibodies. Our results showed high percentages of seropositivity in both the HCWs and the general population (99% and 78%, respectively) in February 2023. HCWs had significantly higher mean IgA and mean anti-S1-IgG antibody levels compared to the general population. The seropositivity in the general population in December 2021 was 79%. The mean levels of IgA and anti-NCP-IgG were significantly higher, whereas the mean anti-S1-IgG levels were significantly lower in February 2023 compared to December 2021. We found a strong correlation between neutralizing antibodies and anti-S1-IgA and anti-S1-IgG antibodies for all tested groups. It is necessary to perform large-scale serosurveys to provide analysis of the seroprevalence in a larger population and its dynamics over time and to facilitate evidence-based strategies that will safeguard the health and well-being of the Bulgarian population and contribute to the global efforts in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data for ongoing and completed clinical trials (Phases I-III) were extracted from the European Union Clinical Trials Register for five EU-EECs (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) (from January 1, 2012 to September 30, 2022). Based on the almost 11-year period Poland (n = 4134) and Hungary (n = 3845) represent the largest share of trials, with over 250–300 ongoing and completed clinical trials a year. Bulgaria (with a population of 7 mill. inhabitants) has a lower number of completed and ongoing trials (n = 2049) versus Poland and Hungary, which, however, have much larger populations (Poland − 38 mill., Hungary − 9.8 mill.). Slovakia (5.5 mill. inhabitants), has 67% fewer ongoing and completed clinical trials (n = 1374) than Poland, while Hungary and Bulgaria also have more trials than Slovakia (64% and 33% respectively). The prevalence of trials in all EEC countries was calculated per 100,000 inhabitants, where Hungary (n = 39) ranks first, while Bulgaria (n = 29) is ahead of Slovakia (n = 25), Poland (n = 11) and Romania (n = 5). The ongoing and completed clinical trials conducted in the ten EU-EECs (n = 19030) have shown remarkable expansion over the past decade, accounting for a large share (26.3%) of all EU-wide trials (n = 72215) for the referenced period. The leader of the western EU countries, in terms of trials per 100,000 inhabitants is Denmark (n = 56) followed by Belgium (n = 44), Austria (n = 33), Finland (n = 30) and the Netherlands (n = 30). These results demonstrate that the number of completed and ongoing trials does not correspond to the size of a country's population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil enzyme activities are potentially valuable indicators of soil health in cases of heavy metal and metalloid (HM) pollution. However, the extent to which HM pollution affects specific enzyme activities remains unclear. In this study we assessed the level of HM pollution and its effects on soil enzyme activities to select the most reliable biochemical indicators of soil health under HM stress. The initial hypothesis was that enzyme responses would be site-specific, depending not only on the level of pollution but also on soil abiotic and biotic properties. The Nemerow pollution index (NPI) and the enzyme activity index (EAI) were calculated. EAIs were based on the activities of dehydrogenase (Dha), β-glucosidase (BGl), acid (AcP) and alkaline (AlP) phosphatases, arylsulphatase (Ars) and urease (Ur). NPI indicated slight (1.0) to serious (67.46) soil pollution. The EAI varied from 4.50 to 11.54. The overall functional dissimilarity between soils was around 26%. Cluster and SIMPER analyses both indicated that the activities of Dha, BGl and AlP grouped together with Cu, Zn and Pb, and accounted for 85% of the between-soil functional dissimilarity. The results indicated that there was enzyme functional redundancy between soils. Soil enzymes showed a relatively high capacity to tolerate long-term HM pollution. Dha, BGl and AlP were highly sensitive to environmental fluctuations, including HM concentrations. The long-term HM stress on soil enzyme activities calls for further studies of the soil properties and the time scale involved in the evolution of metal tolerant enzyme producers in HM-impacted soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]