[size=75:12do59m1]novinite 02 March 2010

New Govt May Turn Bulgaria into Police State - Think-Tank

Bulgaria, Turkey, Ukraine and Hungary show the strongest demand for discriminatory, anti-establishment and authoritarian ideologies, according to a survey.

While far-right movements and ideas are becoming more popular in Eastern European countries, its threat is decreasing in western Europe, shows the Political Capital Institute's Demand for Right-Wing Extremism Index (Derex).

The index measures and compares people's predisposition to far right-wing politics in 32 countries using data from the European Social Survey.

This is partly because in western Europe, the extreme-right's main appeal lies in its anti-immigration policies, a subject that rarely leads people to reject the political establishment as a whole.

In eastern Europe, prejudice and anti-Gypsy attitudes are closely linked to opposition to the political system, distrust and general malaise, posing a major threat to stability.

The survey cites Bulgaria as a good example of a country where a prejudicial, nationalist and anti-establishment public can push political leaders toward greater radicalism.

“Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s government frequently steps outside democratic boundaries to try to settle scores with opponents. The government’s law-and-order rhetoric, if put into practice, would make Bulgaria look more like a police state than a democracy. However, it meets with widespread public approval,” according to the research.

It points out that potential extreme right-wing supporters are most numerous in countries that have recently gone through tumultuous periods, such as Ukraine, Hungary and Bulgaria.

Right-wing extremism poses a threat not only to the majority, but to minorities as well, which after experiencing discrimination at the hands of radicals usually become radicalized themselves, the research says.

“For example, 20% of Bulgarians belong to the country’s Islamic minority, and roughly 16 percent of these are potential extremists,” according to Derex. “This means 4% of Bulgarians are potential Muslim extremists.”

According to the index Bulgaria’s ethnic Turkish minority is at risk of radicalization, not just the Slavic majority that may harbor anti-Turkish or anti-Gypsy sentiments.