Verfassung und demokratische Konsolidierung im postsozialistischen Bulgarien
Constitution and Democratic Consolidation in Post-socialist Bulgaria - A Formal Institution as Decisive Factor in the Southeast European Context?

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the factors influencing the consolidation of the post-socialist democracy in Bulgaria. It argues for a thin concept of consolidation that declares a democratic governmental system consolidated if it has achieved a certain degree of democracy, and opposes thick concepts that (de facto) understand consolidation as a never-ending process. On this basis, the analysis shows that in the Bulgarian case only one of ten consolidation factors had an unrestricted positive effect. Surprisingly, this was the constitution, although formal institutions are widely perceived to be little effective in Southeastern Europe. The article concludes that even the governmental crisis of 2013 confirms the assessment of the Bulgarian democracy as consolidated, because the crisis did not imperil the institutional order like in the similar case of Romania.

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