Cultures of Democracy in Serbia and Bulgaria

James Dawson lectures at the School of Public Policy, University College London, where he currently serves as Director of MSc Democracy and Comparative Politics.

’Through a comparison of public spheres in Bulgaria and Serbia, this book illustrates the weaknesses of current measurements of democracy. Dawson’s ethnographic approach allows him to demonstrate the counterintuitive conclusion that Serbia has a more solid foundation for liberal democracy than EU member Bulgaria. Of tremendous interest for anyone interested in democratic transitions, democracy promotion, and liberal theory more generally.’ Chip Gagnon, Ithaca College, USA ’There is a troubling gap in the literature on democratic transformations: the cultural dimension of these processes is insufficiently explored and poorly understood. This book fills this gap in the most persuasive manner. Based on an ingeniously conceived ethnography of public spaces, carefully calibrated comparative design, and masterfully collected evidence the author shows that the ranking of political systems based on the formalist criteria, employed for example by Freedom House, is not as conclusive as it is often assumed. A different picture - arguably more accurate - emerges when the political cultures revealed through the detailed analysis of public debates are compared.’ Jan Kubik, Rutgers University, USA ’Cultures of Democracy in Serbia and Bulgaria is a timely and much needed text. It is an important contribution to the studies of the public sphere, as it raises important questions about the nature of democracy, democratic participation and ways of measuring it. The book raises crucial questions about formalised measurements of democracy, and explores the public spheres as sites of contention and complication. Moreover, Cultures of Democracy provides new and fascinating empirical material on Serbian and Bulgarian public spheres, making it a welcome addition to the study of South Eastern Europe.’ Jelena Obradovic-Wochnik, Aston University, UK

• Chapter 1 The Neglect of Citizens in the Measurement of Liberal Democracy: An Agenda for the Application of Public Sphere Theory to Central and Eastern Europe; Chapter 2 Liberal Institutions, Illiberal Democracy? The Public Spheres of Serbia and Bulgaria Compared; Chapter 3 Political Pluralism in the Mathematical or the Philosophical Sense? Comparing the Range of Discourse in Recent Serbian and Bulgarian Political History; Chapter 4 Publics and Counterpublics in Serbia: Public Sphere Pluralism in Niš; Chapter 5 Disenchantment without Coherence in Bulgaria:The Absence of Public Sphere Pluralism in Plovdiv; Chapter 6 Conclusion: Evaluating Democracy through the Public Sphere; Chapter 7 Postscript: On the Bulgarian Protests of 2013 and the Spectre of Authoritarian Populism in Serbia;