Radical and Defensive Strategies in the Democratization of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Abstract

This paper attempts to contribute to our understanding of the transformation of East European Academies. It focuses on the reforms of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences since the deep political and economic changes started in that country. The paper is based on an analysis of the main events at the Academy, in which the impact of the new legislation was decisive. It demonstrates basic differences in this process in its two phases, with regard to the adoption of a more radical or a more conservative approach to the reforms. It argues that, although both were controversial, both were realizations of a strategy of survival in the changing political environment, which has led to a diminishing role for the Academy in the rebuilding of national R&D policy.