Improbable Maverick or Typical Conformist? Seven Thoughts on the New Bulgaria
Improbable Maverick or Typical Conformist? Seven Thoughts on the New Bulgaria

Author(s): Maria Todorova
Subject(s): Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Post-Communist Transformation
Published by: CEEOL Digital Reproductions / Collections
Summary/Abstract: The best thing about one of Timothy Garton Ash’s latest pieces, his »Ten Thoughts on the New Europe,« was his ending, that is, his Tenth Thought: »We should keep things in proportion. Most of the rest of humankind will (rightly) say: ‘If only we had your problems.’« Although Garton Ash had not envisaged Bulgaria, this key phrase of multiethnic East European origin certainly sums up the attitude Bulgarians have vis-a-vis Europe. Now that I have borrowed his conclusion (itself borrowed from East European everyday jargon), which rightly or wrongly reflects Bulgarians’ perceptions of their own and Europe’s problems, it might not be thought too immodest to propose only seven thoughts on the new Bulgaria.

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