THE IVAN VAZOV AUTONOMOUS CULTURAL INSTITUTE: A FAILED AGENT OF GLOBALIZATION
THE IVAN VAZOV AUTONOMOUS CULTURAL INSTITUTE: A FAILED AGENT OF GLOBALIZATION

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the establishment and operation of the Ivan Vazov Autonomous Cultural Institute, which attempted to make use of the experience of the developed European countries so that Bulgaria could circumvent the restrictions imposed on it by the bipolar model in the years of the Cold War. Interesting aspects of the topic include the use of computer technologies, which were just emerging in socialist Bulgaria at the time, to achieve the Institute’s goals, as well as its attempts to combine the development of propaganda and economic activities. The text focuses on the concept and fate of the automated information system created at the Institute, which contained data on foreign citizens who had received higher education in Bulgaria. The article brings up the issue of the extent to which the Bulgarian state attempted to pursue a policy of “soft power” in the 1980s and whether it was successful in this endeavour.

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