Bulgaria, Democracy & Civic Space: Ongoing Lessons for Region about Reclaiming Promise of Democracy

Описание: Please join the East Central European Center and the Harriman Institute for a lecture by Louisa Slavkova and Nadia Shabani. Moderated by Gail Archer.

Held on Bulgaria’s National Holiday, this conversation at the Harriman Institute uses Bulgaria as a regional case study: what happens after democracy has been gradually hollowed out - and what it takes to push back. Louisa Slavkova and Nadia Shabani connect shifts in U.S. policy under President Trump’s second term with Europe’s security landscape, Russia’s war against Ukraine, and the ways domestic political instability can be exploited to weaken institutions and public trust.

From there, the discussion turns to lessons that travel across Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans: how attacks on civil society become politically useful, how hostile narratives and “foreign agent” style initiatives spread, and how Russian influence operates not only through energy and geopolitics, but also through information ecosystems and trust erosion.

Drawing on BCNL’s legal and policy expertise and Sofia Platform’s work in civic education and historical memory, the speakers focus on responses that strengthen resilience - legal defense, coalition-building, and principled partnerships (including with business) that protect independence while widening support. The session closes with a forward-looking question: how societies rebuild trust and citizens’ agency over time - through civic education and a serious reckoning with the communist past.