The aim of the thesis is to depict the phenomenon of the rise of the political extremism in Bulgaria after the year 2005, represented in the political party “Ataka”. The phenomenon itself is closely related to the appearance of populist discourses, after the victory of former tsar of Bulgaria, Simeon Sakskoburgotski, and his party at the Parliamentary elections in 2005. Hence, the objects of the analysis are the specific conditions which allowed the appearance of the phenomenon, thus the presentation of the analytical profile of the party itself. More specifically, the research should provide an answer about the ideological positioning of the party and its relation to the phenomenon of populism. The research resulted in broad analyses of the characteristics of the party: the analyses of the party’s programme, inner structure and leadership and electorate. Also, the subject of analyses was its cooperation with the other parties on the domestic and international scene, in the context of self-identification of Ataka on the right-left political continuum. The results showed that Ataka is a particular manifestation of the populist political logic, which is embodied within the extreme right political discourse. The causes of its appearance are various, but they can be sublimated under the label of the by-products of the Bulgarian transition.

Bulgarian nationalism as a political force for state political reform faces formidable challenges due to the Bulgarian state's dependent development under Communism. Nationalist communism was a comparatively effective component of the legitimation strategy for the Communist regime. In neighboring Serbia, the Titoist regime suppressed ethnic nationalism. As the largest nationalist challenge to the Communist Yugoslav state, the Serb national community was partitioned. One-third of ethnic Serbs were placed outside of the Serb republic, and Kosovo and Vojvodina were officially subunits of Serbia but were Yugoslav federal constituent republics in all but name. Russian exploitation of opportunities for influence expansion in Serbia and Bulgaria exist but differ, reflecting this conflicting legacy of Communism in both states. Serb rejection of Communism included advocacy of Serb irredentism, which the post-Soviet/Russian nationalist regime under Vladimir Putin seeks to exploit. Bulgarian nationalist Communism associated itself closely with the USSR until the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev and his reforms in the USSR in the mid-1980s. Bulgarian militant nationalism lacks societal consensus on the basic principles that constitute it. NATO-Russian competition for influence implies European Union deepening and widening occurs in opposition to post-Soviet Russian state influence. Europeanization implies reducing Russian bargaining leverage within the Bulgarian polity.

This paper explores the sources of votes for radical-right parties using the example of electoral support for the Attack Party in the 2005 Bulgarian parliamentary elections. It expands theoretical propositions on the presence of extremist parties in electoral politics by proposing an analytical model which explains radical-right voting as the result of disequilibria between political supply and voter demand in the electoral market. The paper argues that support for the radical right represents unmet voter demand and combines à la carte elements of single-issue politics, xenophobia, protest and charismatic political agency in electoral choice valid for individual voters but not for clearly identifiable cohorts of voters. The paper examines the evidence on electoral support for the Attack Party against the premises of the à la carte model – the structure of electoral competition, radical-right political agency, and voter preferences – and finds that the radical-right vote in the 2005 election validates its key proposition: electoral support for the radical right lacks coherent social structure and correspondence between voter expectations and party programmatic appeal. Based on the Bulgarian case study the paper concludes that the ability to offer voting choices à la carte, regardless of its ideological positions and the political expectations of its own electorate represents a resource for the sustained presence of the radical right in the electoral market.

... to the city of Bursa in Turkey to court this Bulgarian Turkish Diaspora vote ... The opposition's unwillingness to use romantic, anti-Turkish/Muslim symbols to mobilize support derived from ... explain the comparative absence of Bulgarian nationalism in the policy making process since ...

Since the Maastricht Treaty (1992) much research has been engaged in the study of Euroscepticism, mainly in its typology and varieties. This article sheds light on one of the most significant, decisive and formative determinants of euroscepticism: nationalism. It explores the brand of ethnic nationalism that ATAKA, a far-right political partyof Bulgaria, espoused in the aftermath of Bulgaria’s accession to the EU (2007-2009). It argues that such nationalism is incompatible with the economic and political internationalization that the project of European integration and unification generates. Indeed, even though ATAKA did not openly demand the withdrawal of Bulgaria from the European Union, it advocateda totally different, strongly intergovernmentalist, scheme that a priori excludes any ceding of national sovereignty to a supranational body.

The phenomena of radicalisation today develop and change at high speed, with their extreme forms manifested globally. The destructive dimensions of (violent) Islamist or right-wing radicalisation have become dramatically visible in Europe posing serious challenges to European societies at large. This report aims to address a knowledge gap with regard to how and to what extent internationally observed radicalisation processes are manifested in Bulgaria. Four different forms of radicalisation are investigated, including Islamist radicalisation, right-wing and left-wing radicalisation, as well as football hooliganism. The report provides policy makers and the expert community with a systematic overview of the main risks to which the Bulgarian society is exposed, as well as of the main actors and ideas, the repertoire of actions and the groups at risk associated with radicalisation. The report outlines recommendations for improvement of the policy and institutional response with regard to radicalisation by way of monitoring and prevention measures as well as multi agency collaboration and community engagement.

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