Populist Narratives About Migration in Bulgaria: The “Refugee Crisis” Cover Image

Популистки разкази за миграцията в България: „бежанската криза“
Populist Narratives About Migration in Bulgaria: The “Refugee Crisis”

Author(s): Ildiko Otova, Evelina Staykova
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Media studies, Communication studies, Theory of Communication
Published by: Факултет по журналистика и масова комуникация, Софийски университет „Св. Кл. Охридски”
Keywords: populism; populist discourses; migration; crisis

Summary/Abstract: Migration is a highly politicized phenomenon. It is one of the favourite topics of populists who create crises with their narratives about it. The Bulgarian case is particularly interesting. A country of immigrants, with an acute demographic problem, whose politicians (re)discover immigrants and turn them into the most convenient “other”. The lack of experience with „visible“ immigrant communities and the (mis)presentation of immigration processes as a national catastrophe in the poorest of the EU member states, against the background of dominant populist discourses, lead to negative public attitudes towards asylum seekers.

  • Issue Year: 1/2023
  • Issue No: 14
  • Page Range: 111-130
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: Bulgarian