Populism: the Bulgarian case

Resumen

The paper explores various aspects of populism focusing on the Bulgarian case study since 1989 with reference to its empirical manifestations, the legitimacy crisis and political culture traits. The text focuses on parliamentary represented parties and reconstructs the evolution of populism from an ephemeral phenomenon to an integral part of the political system. Particular attention is being paid to the year 2001, when the king’s return unleashed the “populist moment” opening up the space for the massive influx of populist parties. The paper advocates the thesis that, with the exception of Ataka, populist parties generally remain within the limits set by constitutional democracy, yet at the same time, by reducing complexity to trivialized solutions they only aggravate the legitimacy crisis instead of overcoming it.