<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<p>This article addresses the evolution of Bulgarian foreign policy since the start of the Russian Ukrainian crisis of 2014 until 2022 through the prism of domestic contestation of foreign policy choices and decisions. The article reviews four key votes that took place during the period that related to NATO decisions and EU-related decisions towards the situation in Ukraine. This article raises three central questions. First: to what extent were Bulgarian foreign policy decisions related to NATO and the EU increasingly contested and politicized in domestic politics? Second: what is the impact of domestic political dynamics in terms of fragmentation, coalition building and role of smaller fringe extreme right political parties on the growing politicization and contestation of Bulgarian foreign policy towards NATO and the EU? Third: to what extent might such politicization and contestation question Bulgaria’s commitments to both NATO and the EU?</p>
</abstract>

This article addresses the evolution of Bulgarian foreign policy since the start of the Russian Ukrainian crisis of 2014 until 2022 through the prism of domestic contestation of foreign policy choices and decisions. The article reviews four key votes that took place during the period that related to NATO decisions and EU-related decisions towards the situation in Ukraine. This article raises three central questions. First: to what extent were Bulgarian foreign policy decisions related to NATO and the EU increasingly contested and politicized in domestic politics? Second: what is the impact of domestic political dynamics in terms of fragmentation, coalition building and role of smaller fringe extreme right political parties on the growing politicization and contestation of Bulgarian foreign policy towards NATO and the EU? Third: to what extent might such politicization and contestation question Bulgaria’s commitments to both NATO and the EU?

Contesting the West? Domestic Contestation in Bulgarian Foreign Policy From 2014 to 2022

Baltic Journal of Law & Politics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

This article addresses the evolution of Bulgarian foreign policy since the start of the Russian Ukrainian crisis of 2014 until 2022 through the prism of...

Contesting the West? Domestic Contestation in Bulgarian Foreign Policy From 2014 to 2022

Publié en ligne: 26 oct. 2023

Pages: 174 - 189

Reçu: 06 juin 2023

Accepté: 12 sept. 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bjlp-2023-0009

Mots clés
Russia, NATO, Sanctions, Foreign Policy, European Union, Bulgaria.

© 2023 Jean F. Crombois, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Contesting the West? Domestic Contestation in Bulgarian Foreign Policy From 2014 to 2022

Publié en ligne: 26 oct. 2023

Pages: 174 - 189

Reçu: 06 juin 2023

Accepté: 12 sept. 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bjlp-2023-0009

Mots clésRussia, NATO, Sanctions, Foreign Policy, European Union, Bulgaria.

© 2023 Jean F. Crombois, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Mots clés
Russia, NATO, Sanctions, Foreign Policy, European Union, Bulgaria.