If Borders Did Not Exist, Euroscepticism Would Have Invented Them Or, on Post-Communist Re/De/Re/Bordering in Bulgaria

ABSTRACT

The thesis of this article is that if borders did not exist, Euroscepticism would have invented them. If Sartre is paraphrased, it is to emphasize that Euroscepticism needs borders in the same intense political and symbolic way as anti-Semitism needs Jews. This thesis is argued in three steps. The first analyses the paradox of the intense theoretical deconstruction of borders in the era of an overbordered world and argues the ideas of the ‘revenge of the state’ and of the emergence of the ‘neo-post-Westphalian order’. The second part examines the post-communist Europeanisation as de-bordering and distinguishes three forms: Europeanisation through utopianization, Europeanisation through ethnic de-bordering and Europeanisation through de-territorialization. The third part analyses the interferences and intensification of re-bordering and Euroscepticism. The stato-national and the ethno-identitarian bordering practices are analysed through the images of wall and body. Two types of Euroscepticism – extremist and crypto – are distinguished and compared.

Funding

This work was supported by the FP7 project EUBORDERSCAPES Bordering, Political Landscapes and Social Arenas: Potentials and Challenges of Evolving Border Concepts in a post-Cold War World (7th Framework Programme).

Notes

1. “Man from Yambol caught immigrants with bare hands” btv news, 18.02.16. http://btvnovinite.bg/article/bulgaria/obshtestvo/mazh-ot-jambol-zalavja-nelegalni-imigrnati-s-goli-race.html

Facebook of Dinko Valev: https://www.facebook.com/dinko.valev.5.

2. The director of the National History Museum, Prof. Bozhidar Dimitrov, and the author of this article.

3. Put forth by the author of this article.

4. For debates on Europeanisation in SEE, see the 2015 volume‚ The Europeanisation of the countries in South-East Europe through enhancement of the rule of law in Southeastern Europe 39 (3).

5. Quoted from Dimitrov (2015).

6. Dittmer and Gary (2010), quoted in Brambilla et al. (2015b).

7. Agnew (1994), and Brenner (1999), quoted in Brambilla et al. (2015b).

8. My translation from French.

9. My translation from French.

10. My translation from French.

11. The collective identity of Bulgarian Turks is constructed around two poles – Turkish mother tongue and Muslim religion. This identity construction is defined by the community itslef and shared by the larger society.

12. Bulgarian speaking Muslims.

13. The Bulgarian communist regime played up the potential threat that regions with a compact Turkish population might demand autonomy, although such demands were not explicitely claimed by the Turkish minority.

14. Пътят към Европа.

15. Българска социалистическа партия.

16. Съюз на демократичните сили.

17. Движение за права и свободи.

18. Европа.

19. Избор.

20. In your view, the European Union is synonymous with progress (45.2%), well-being (41.5%), peace (36.9%), employment (31.2%), travel (30%), harmony (20%), risk (7.7%), uncertainty (4.9%), inequality (4.6%), conflicts (4.4%), unemployment (3.6%) and sacrifices (1.1%) (Mitev 1999).

21. My translaion from French.

22. For a detailed analysis of the Bulgarian ethnic model, see Krasteva and Todorov (2011), Kanev (1998).

23. The concept EU-nization is forged by Grabbe (2006) and means the adoption of EU regulations by national institutions.

24. A. Krasteva. ‘If crisis did not exist, populism would have invented them’ in Olteanu et al. (2017).

25. Атака.

26. Аtaka’s ‘Orthodox Solidarity’ programme, 2013.

27. The defense of LGBT rights is critically and ironically interpreted by numerous populists, including some Bulgarian leaders like Volen Siderov as‚ gay Europe: Сидеров: България не принадлежи на Ево-съюза (Siderov: Bulgaria does not belong to the gay Euro-Union). Offnews, 24.03.14 = https://offnews.bg/politika/siderov-balgaria-ne-prinadlezhi-na-gej-evrosaiuza-313936.html

28. Mendras (1997). See previous debate on Mendras (1997).

29. Walls and fences are used as synonyms in the article, but the author takes into account the distinctions of S. Rosiere and R. Jones: wall has a negative connotation, ‘suggests total closure and echoes the Berlin war’, while fence is more positive and temporary. Both are key words in teichopolitics or ‘the politics of building barriers on borders for various security purposes’ Rosiere and Joness (2012).

30. ‘Taxis on their way to the Serbian border, apparently transporting foreigners, are stopped by police officers who demand they pay a certain amount (50 euros per person in December 2015), otherwise the foreigners who are trying to leave the country illegally are detained’. Report under the project ‘Increasing the transparency and accountability of Bulgaria’s detention practices of asylum seekers and migrants’ by the Center for Legal Aid – Voice in Bulgaria, p. 32.

31. According to data of Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry, available at https://www.mvr.bg/Planirane_otchetnost/Migracionna_statistika/default.htm, quoted in the Report by the Center for Legal Aid – Voice in Bulgaria (note 17), pp. 11–12.

32. Мъж бие момче от ромски произход заради реплика,че са равни (A man beats a boy from Roma origin, because of his sentence that they are equal). Btv новините, 17.05.16. http://m.btvnovinite.bg/video/videos/mazh-bie-momche-ot-romski-proizhod-zaradi-replika-che-sa-ravni.html

33. T Ваксберг Държавата като скинхед? (T. Vaksbeg The state as a skinhead?) Vevesti, 1.12.14. http://vevesti.bg/1799/darzhavata-kato-skinhed/1799/

³⁴ Къде са всички неолиберали, Кристалина и Плевнлиез, за да коментират Д. Камерън и българската ограда? (Where are all the neo-liberals, Krsitalina and Plevneliev for commenting on Cameron and the Bulgarian fence?) Obshtestov http://obshtestvo.net/%D0%BA%D1%8A%D0%B4%D0%B5-%D1%81%D0%B0-%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%BA%D0%B8-%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B1%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8-%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BD/.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the FP7 project EUBORDERSCAPES Bordering, Political Landscapes and Social Arenas: Potentials and Challenges of Evolving Border Concepts in a post-Cold War World (7th Framework Programme).