Lustration in the Social Change of the Bulgarian Transition (1990-2007)

Abstract

The article examines the political subjects of social change during the Bulgarian tran-sition from totalitarianism to democracy (1990-2007): the subcultures of ‘former com-munists’ and of ‘anti-communists’ formed in the early 1990s. The research question is about their attitudes in the past and presence to lustration – a point of intersection for the ideology, ideologemes, political rhetoric and practice of the ‘left’ and ‘right’, and an example of the divergence of the social projects of the main political forces – the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF). The re-search is based on a historical analysis of act and archival materials, periodicals, memoirs and surveys, as well as socio-anthropological analysis of in-depth interviews and focus groups.