This article refers to minority policies in liberal-democratic societies. A number of failures in this field are explained as a result of the one-sidedness of these policies. I differentiate between two types of them: universalist (of an “orthodox” liberal type) and particularist (nationalist or multiculturalist) ones. I claim that neither “pure’ universalism, nor extreme particularism can serve as adequate approaches to the complex issues of, first and foremost, ethnic and religious minority communities. I comment, further, in a positive vein, two up to date theories which aim at a synthesis of these publicly-political approaches – John Rawls’s political liberalism and Jürgen Habermas’s theory of “two track” deliberative politics.

The main theoretical elaborations on migration pressure have been analyzed in this article and its working definition has been offered. The migration pressure to Europe applied along the Eastern Mediterranean migration route, passing alternatively through Greece or Bulgaria, is considered. It was concluded that this is a main migration route to the EU and for the period 2009 – 2014, 32.7 % of the registered illegal immigrants in the EU have passed along it. The main countries of origin are Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. This fact determines the type of the illegal immigrants in Bulgaria. Out of 39492 people that sought asylum in Bulgaria for the period 1993 - 2014, the applications of 15774 people have been granted or 39.9% of all applicants. A prognosis has been made that during the period 2015 - 2025, considering the expected increase of the working age population in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq with another 16 million people and the difficulties of the national economies to create a corresponding number of jobs, a new surplus labor force will be created, which will increase the migration pressure on the Eastern Mediterranean migration route. This in turn will lead to continuing the trend of appearance of new identities in Bulgaria and the Balkans.

The immigration pressure that is exercised on Europe - the prevalent component of immigration being Islamic – generates problems in the social sphere, in education, interreligious relations and security. The trends related to the increasing numbers of immigrants are the following: • Inability to integrate into Western societies and ghettoization of those who are “different”; • The formation of separate societies in parallel with the main ones and a growing number of so-called “sensitive zones”; • The decreasing attractiveness of the so-called multi-cultural model; • Radicalization of Muslims; • Construction of identity markers.

This text is an endeavor to analyze the consequences of the transborder separation of families and its influence upon group cultural identity. The article is focused not only on the first and second generation of emigrants but also on the parts of the nuclear family remaining in Bulgaria (predominantly children and older parents). The analysis is based on long years of field research, monitoring, secondary analysis of free interviews and target groups responses, as well as on unpublished interviews. As a result of their cultural and religious attitudes Muslims have a hard time to apprehend the existential shock of the fact that the family is no longer based on mutual cohabitation at one place, in traditional community and environment. They also struggle with rifts in the traditional hierarchy inside the nuclear family. Muslims experience serious changes in their understanding of traditional family and its enlarged ancestral variant. For the sake of prosperity, within a time period of twenty five years, the traditional family was lost and became fragmented. With the time passing it became spatially dispersed, the social, cultural and hierarchical bonds grew thinner and partially severed. Despite the increasing scientific interest in the matter, in the year of 2015, the issue of family transformations and local social networks remains marginal and the field research results are not full and not well organized.

The intensified processes of mobility and migration, specifically after the accession of Bulgaria to the EU, result in increasing ethnic diversity, changing configuration of ethnic communities, and hence, complicated interethnic relations in the country. Besides the “traditional” ethnic minorities, the number of immigrant minorities, particularly from some Arab countries, is continuously increasing. The main objective and contribution of this study was to examine attitudes and social distances towards immigrants – Russians and Arabs – not only on the part of ethnic Bulgarian majority, but also on the part of the largest ethnic minorities in the country – Bulgarian Turks and Roma. The study was a part of a larger survey among 1216 respondents with ethnic Bulgarian, Bulgarian Turkish and Roma self-identification in 3 Bulgarian districts with different proportions of ethnic minorities. Attitudes towards Russians were found to be more positive, and social distances towards them – shorter, compared to those towards Arabs. Still, attitudes towards Arabs were not as negative as attitudes towards Roma, who had been known to face the severest discrimination for years. Ethnicity turned out a significant factor for attitudes and social distances towards the immigrants. The effects of perceived economic status and some socio-demographic factors were also scrutinized.

This research aims to investigate emigration in the context search of first job after leaving education among young people in Bulgaria. The theoretical framework of analysis is based on theories of individuals’ life transitions and the status changes that define the trajectories of an individual’s life. The authors use empirical data obtained from a representative survey on young people in Bulgaria conducted in 2014, which includes a detailed calendar of education-to-work transitions made by young people in the preceding five years. The survey is focused on a specific age cohort (people born between 1980 and 1999) and on the transition – an important one for young people – from education to work. The results of the analysis indicate that emigration is not the large-scale choice of youths in Bulgaria in the consecutive steps they take from education to employment. Emigration is a potential option, to which young people are open; they take advantage of shorter or longer stays abroad in order to work. The lack of work restrictions for Bulgarians, in the context of the country’s integration in the EU, and the awareness of this opportunity explain the higher quantitative levels of willingness to emigrate among young people compared with their actual experience with emigration. People with lower than secondary education, the unemployed, people from smaller settlements, and those not of Bulgarian ethnicity emigrate more often than other young people. Previous migration experience is one of the strongest predictions of intentions to emigrate. Among young people, emigration leads to postponement of starting a family of one’s own but is a favorable factor regarding separation from parents, transition to independent life and, hence, acquiring the status of young adults.

The article presents an analysis of Bulgarian medics’ migrations during Socialism and Post-Socialism. It is examined in several perspectives: the clash of two discourses on medics’ migration and its paradoxes; periodization of the “migration in white”; dynamics of push/pull factors; multidimensional gains in symbolic capital (professional, humanitarian, economic, democratic). The field-work was conducted in 2012-14, in Bulgaria and several European countries (mainly France). The respondents were doctors of different medical specialties; directors of three large metropolitan hospitals; doctors who emigrated to EU; doctors who turned back from member states; medics with the intention to emigrate; mobile doctors without intent to emigrate; mobile doctors practicing in the two countries.

Processes of globalization and urbanization, international migration and free movement of people put the theory of citizenship in an entirely new context. This new context changed the content of citizenship; provoked new thoughts of the body of concept; opened new analytical terrain. Many analysts develop theories of new forms of citizenship. This text presents such conceptualization – that of a global citizenship. The analysis goes beyond formally specified limits, rights and obligations of citizenship. Its representatives are mobile people, and key features are the civil activism and self-reflection.

The article presents results of representative sample survey among the Bulgarian population residing in Spain. The sample includes 506 individuals living in 25 different settlements in this country. This provides an opportunity for us to derive the educational, employment and property status of Bulgarians residing in Spain at the time of survey. The question “Will the Bulgarians return from Spain?” is discussed as well. The article suggests evidence about the degree of knowledge of Bulgarian language by the youngest as well as the frequency of contacts between the Diaspora and the relatives left behind.

The aim of this article is to search for pro- and con- evidences for the hypothesis that there is a correspondence between the migratory movements and experiences on the one hand and the change of values on the other. The object is on the values of the Roma who emigrated from and returned to Bulgaria in these values’ relationship to the environment in the home and in the host country (cultural norms of non-migrated Roma, non-Roma in Bulgaria and the majorities in the host countries). Values that have previously been subject of studies are investigated. Research question are: is there a change in attitudes towards traditional values and those of the modern era, in views about education, in opinions about Roma’s integration and in Roma’s representations. Comparative analysis between the values shared by majorities in host countries and Bulgaria; between the values of Bulgarian Roma and of non-Roma living close to Roma communities; between the values of Roma ex-migrants and of Roma, who have never migrated is made. It is based on data from two studies (UNDP/WB/EC Regional Roma Survey 2011 and the European Social Survey - fifth wave / 2010). Changes in the value system of Roma ex-migrants and their character are accentuated. Possible explanations for these changes are offered.

This study analyzes the changes in the number and location of the Roma ethnic group in Northwestern Bulgaria. It traces the influence of natural reproduction: and migration processes on the spatial dislocation of Roma. We have established two periods with changes in the structure of settlements regarding the proportion of the Roma population : from the end of the 80s until the early 90s, when a clear trend of increase in the share of the Roma population is observed (above 10 %) and in 2011 (the last census) 50 % of these settlements have 70 % share of the Roma population. The changes in the ethnic structure of the settlements and the expansion of their territory leads to emergence and gradual expansion of the Northwest region with high concentration of Roma population. It covers 4.1 % of Bulgaria (2011) and 8.9 % of the Roma population live on its territory.