The development and actual condition of industrial relations in Bulgaria as an element of national security in the transition period
The development and actual condition of industrial relations in Bulgaria as an element of national security in the transition period

Summary/Abstract: This article focuses on the extent to which industrial relations and co-operation between the social partners play a role in supporting national security and in the extent to which the absence of social co-operation presents a risk to social peace and indeed to national security. Taking as his example practical events and examples from the work of successive governments in Bulgaria immediately after the start of the transition in that country, including the reform of the social insurance system and the subsequent development of the institutions of tripartite dialogue, the author uses contemporary sources to illustrate his view that failures in social co-operation present clear threats to the executive but also that social cooperation is, by itself, a powerful instrument. Properly implemented, co-operation plays a role in engendering social peace but its misuse may lead to a variety of social and political confusions. The author particularly cites continuing developments in ex-Yugoslavia as evidence that a lack of co-operation between the social partners at the national level could have been particularly inflammatory at a time of great peril for the Balkans region as a whole.

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