Where has marxism gone? Gauging the impact of alternative ideas in transition Bulgaria

East European Politics and Societies

Volumn 19, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 443-462

  Ganev, Georgy ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

Bulgaria; Experience gap; Ideas; Labor theory of value; Marxism; Post communism

Indexed keywords

EID: 23944469420     PISSN: 08883254     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0888325405275057     Document Type: Article

References (12)

1. The phrase "market-capitalistic talk" is intentionally loose. It tries to convey that this talk, while vaguely based on the belief that markets and incentives are important for economic well-being, is often undisciplined and inconsistent. Using a more disciplined and well-defined term, such as "neoliberal", or "Washington consensus," for the case of Bulgaria in this period, would be highly inappropriate.
2. In the case of Bulgaria, this set of ideas cannot and should not be attributed only to communism and Marxism. These ideas were dominant in Bulgarian economic thinking long before the communist takeover and provided a hospitable environment for its intellectual flourishing. See Roumen Avramov, "Notes on Economic Science in Bulgaria," in Petya Kabakchieva and Roumen Avramov, eds., "East"-"West" Cultural Encounters: Entrepreneurship, Governance, Economic Knowledge (Sofia, Bulgaria: Iztok Zapad, 2004), 311-60, and the numerous references cited therein.
3. See Association Global Bulgaria Initiative, Optimistic Theory about the Pessimism of the Transition (Sofia, Bulgaria: Association Global Bulgaria Initiative, 2003-2004), graph on p. 1. http://www.cls-sofia.org/publications/papers/ Optimistic_Theory_about_the_Pessimism_of_the_Transition-EN.pdf.
4. Source: National Statistical Institute of the Republic of Bulgaria (www.nsi.bg).
5. The relevant data can be found at National Statistical Institute (www.nsi.bg), the Bulgarian National Bank (www.bnb.bg), and the Bulgarian Investment Agency (www.investbg.government.bg).
6. See Georgy Ganev, "Entrepreneurial Attitudes and Responses to EU Accession in Bulgaria: Two Possible Scenarios," in Kabakchieva and Avramov, "East"-"West" Cultural Encounters, 135.
7. The surveys have been conducted for various projects of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia and have been financially supported by the Civic Education Project and the German Marshall Fund (2000 and 2001 surveys) and by the European Commission (grant no. CT-2002-00131, project: "Functional Borders and Sustainable Security: Integrating the Balkans in the European Union [IBEU], 2003 Survey").
8. More on these organizations can be found at www.transparency.org and www.anticorruption.bg, respectively. These sites also contain the data quoted here.
9. See Ivan Krastev and Georgy Ganev, "The Missing Incentive: Corruption, Anticorruption, and Reelection", in Janos Kornai and Susan Rose-Ackerman, eds., Building a Trustworthy State in Post-Socialist Transition (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), 162, Table 8.2.
10. See Association Global Bulgaria Initiative, Optimistic Theory, 22-25, esp. Table on 23-24.
11. See Krastev and Ganev, The Missing Incentive, 165-68.
12. Center for Policy Studies, Central European University, In Search of Responsive Government: State Building and Economic Growth in the Balkans (Budapest, Hungary: Center for Policy Studies, Central European University, 2004), final paper of the "Blue Bird - Agenda for Civil Society in Southeast Europe" project: www.ceu.hu/cps/bluebird/pap/pub_polstud_bluebird.pdf.