Professor of Philosophy at New Bulgarian University, Sofia. Editor-in-Chief of Critique & Humanism journal and President of the Human and Social Studies Foundation – Sofia (HSSF). He is the author of This is True! (2016); Essays on Power and Truth (2009); Freedom and Recognition: the Interactive Sources of Identity (2006); Ontology of Affirmation: Nietzsche As A Task (2003). His research interests are in the fields of political philosophy, especially critical theory, and post-analytic philosophy of language and discourse analysis.
National populism in North Macedonia is kept in check by the European consensus. Macedonism runs deep, however, and has the potential to erupt. The resumption of the EU accession process is likely to ensure that, unlike its neighbour Bulgaria, North Macedonia stays on a democratic course.
Peak populism could be said to characterize the political dynamic in all three countries, as Finns express the greatest dissatisfaction with the Right. But changes may well be on the horizon in Hungary and Bulgaria too, as the limits to euroscepticism become increasingly clear.
The coming EP elections will serve as a stress test for the role that Croatia plays as the latest EU member state. It will also deliver a verdict on local elites’ efforts to restore their influence in Bulgaria and gauge popular sentiment regarding Austria’s upside-down political system.
Russian propaganda co-opts western grassroots criticism of liberalism and globalization, recasting both left and right populism in nationalist terms. Vice versa, local actors borrow the Russian propaganda package and use it for their populist purposes. An analysis of Bulgarian media discourse 2013–2016.
