Fragments of Our Freedom: Bulgaria in 2013 [In Bulgarian]

• Main Author: N. Nikolov
• Format: Article
• Language: Bulgarian
• Published: SCS Consulting Ltd. 2013-09-01
• Series: Venec
• Subjects: Bulgaria; Democracy; Post-communism; Eastern Europe; Freedom; Identity; Nationhood
• Online Access: http://www.venets.org/getfile.php?id=152

Bulgaria is a nation marked by deep social and political metamorphoses. As part of the post-communist transitional democracies and full member of the European Union, Bulgaria is officially considered a “consolidating democracy” and its progress is periodically assessed alongside other East and Central European states. What is argued in this paper is that the rights and freedoms belonging to all democratic citizens are not automatically transferred with the regime change. It will be shown that freedom is a cultural experience, deeply connected with national identity and a sense of historical self-consciousness. It will be shown how a distinction between political liberty and cultural freedom can help make sense of Bulgaria’s rather complex contemporaneity, its totalitarian past and its crisis of national identity.