The thesis examines what children know about and how they feel towards Europe, drawing on interviews with 9-10-year-old pupils in Bulgaria and England. Although it is focused on the media, it also takes into account a plethora of other factors by investigating the interplay between social structures, socialization agents, national context and individual agency. The methodology combines qualitative and quantitative methods and involves 174 interviews with children, surveys with their parents, interviews with teachers and head teachers and content analysis of TV news, videos and school textbooks. The contributions of the thesis are both theoretical and empirical. The findings reveal important commonalities and differences in processes of European identity formation in the two countries. In both the new and enthusiastic European Union (EU) member Bulgaria and in the notoriously Eurosceptic England, European identity is largely an elite and racialized identity. However, the meanings of European-ness vary: in England, being European is linked with the idea of belonging to the continent of Europe, while Bulgarian children associate it with being part of the EU as a political unit. The results also provide a better insight into the relationship between knowledge and identity, as well as the role of the media in relation to each of them. The study concludes that the mass media, and television in particular, play an important role in raising awareness and knowledge, especially when the topic has a fairly salient position on the political agenda. In contrast, the media do not seem to play a decisive role in shaping identity as such: although Bulgarian media provide considerably more coverage of European issues than English media, Bulgarian children feel less European than their English peers. Theoretically, the thesis not only provides a detailed, sociologically informed and context-sensitive account of the media s influence in identity construction, but also bridges the gap between contrasting theories in media studies and sociology, including agenda-setting theories and audience-focused approaches to media effects, as well as theories of socialization and social structures.

<p>Post­Keynesian economists state that there is a direct relationship between balance­-of­-payments and economic growth. Anthony Thirlwall, in particular, has formulated a model which defines the balance­-of­-payments equilibrium growth rate that would allow the economy to grow in the long­-run sustainably without deteriorating their external balance or entering major debts. The purpose of this study is to investigate to what extent Thirlwall's law applies to historical data from the Bulgarian economy.</p>

Post­Keynesian economists state that there is a direct relationship between balance­-of­-payments and economic growth. Anthony Thirlwall, in particular, has formulated a model which defines the balance­-of­-payments equilibrium growth rate that would allow the economy to grow in the long­-run sustainably without deteriorating their external balance or entering major debts. The purpose of this study is to investigate to what extent Thirlwall's law applies to historical data from the Bulgarian economy.

Este estudio se circunscribe en el área de Pedagogía Comparada. Se trata de un estudio comparado de reformas curriculares de educación secundaria entre los países occidentales y Bulgaria. Como reza el titulo, la primera parte del estudio ofrece una panorámica de tendencias globales en materia de políticas curriculares de secundaria que se están produciendo en todo el mundo. Se presenta la situación general de revisión, reorganización y reestructuración de los contenidos de las enseñanzas secundarias ilustrando ejemplos de países más representativos.La segunda parte de la investigación se enfoca en el caso particular de Bulgaria. En concreto, se analiza el proceso de la reforma curricular en este país poscomunista fijándose en las tres áreas siguientes: 1. Los contenidos de enseñanza y su organización. Se presume que una reforma curricular cambiará por un lado los contenidos de enseñanza (incrementando su relevancia, incluyendo nuevos elementos, eliminando tópicos arcaicos, etc.) y por otro lado, revisará la organización de los contenidos (creando amplias áreas curriculares, mejorando la interconexión entre asignaturas individuales, etc.), así como el tiempo específico asignado a cada materia del currículo. 2. Las competencias que necesita el profesorado para poder aplicar el nuevo currículo. Se supone que los maestros deberán adquirir competencias de enseñanza apropiadas y conocimientos específicos de su materia de especialización para poder trabajar con éxito los nuevos contenidos con sus estudiantes. Las nuevas competencias necesarias nos permitieron ver hasta qué punto se hizo un cambio esencial en el contenido educativo y su práctica de enseñanza. Esto a su vez, nos permitió estimar los efectos de la reforma curricular sobre el proceso educativo global en el país. 3. La opinión y el comportamiento de los diferentes estamentos y actores involucrados en el proceso educativo. Los diferentes estamentos y la sociedad civil siempre manifiestan una determinada posición respecto de la reforma curricular, la cual nos ha permitido establecer el grado de su satisfacción con los cambios implícitos de la reforma, su implicación y compromiso con la implantación de la reforma y, en definitiva, el éxito potencial de dicha reforma. El análisis de estas tres áreas servio para obtener conclusiones sobre las siguientes preguntas de investigación:1. Si la reforma se estaba efectivamente llevando a cabo y en qué medida.2. Si esta reforma responde a las expectativas y necesidades de la sociedad Búlgara y muy especialmente de los actores concernidos. 3. Si la reforma curricular en Bulgaria llevará a un mayor grado de convergencia con los sistemas educativos de los países de la OCDE. 4. Si la reforma educativa no sólo incide en la adquisición de saberes o competencias, sino en la formación ética y ciudadana de los estudiantes.5. Si existen obstáculos y problemas en el proceso de implantación de la reforma que podrían incluso condicionar de modo negativo el planteamiento de futuras reformas en el sector. Para la recogida de datos acerca las áreas arriba mencionadas hemos realizado 96 entrevistas en Sofía entre 2003 y 2007 y hemos distribuido 201 cuestionarios por toda Bulgaria. Nuestra selección de informantes se hizo en función de tres grandes categorías:- la sociedad civil incluyendo representantes de organizaciones no gubernamentales, asociaciones de padres y estudiantes de escuelas secundarias y de la Universidad; - los educadores incluyendo los maestros de escuelas secundarias, los profesores universitarios y los formadores de maestros; - los administradores y gestores incluyendo los responsables de la política educativa, los directores de las escuelas secundarias, los inspectores, y los dirigentes de las centrales sindicales de profesorado. Las conclusiones de la investigación llevada a cabo, pueden ser de utilidad tanto para aportar información sobre el actual proceso de reformas de Bulgaria, como para orientar otros futuros procesos que se puedan dar en el resto de los países Balcánicos en transición y del Este de Europa. Palabras clave: Política de curriculum, Bulgaria, Educación secundaria / The present study belongs in the areas of Comparative Pedagogy. It is a comparative study of secondary education curriculum reforms between the occidental countries and Bulgaria. As the title suggests, the first part of the study offers a panorama of global trends of secondary curriculum reforms. It presents common trends on renewing, reorganizing and restructuring secondary education content, illustrating examples of representative countries.The second part of the study focuses on the case of Bulgaria. In concrete, it analyzes the process of curriculum reform in this post-communism country, focusing on the three following areas: 1. The educational content and its organization. It is expected that a foreseen curriculum reform will change on the one hand, the content delivered to students (by increasing its relevance, including new elements, eliminating outdated topics, etc.) and on the other, will alternate the organization of the content (by creating broader curriculum areas, improving the linkage among individual subjects), as well as the specific time allocated to each curriculum subject. 2. The competences required for the teachers to apply the new curriculum. It is expected that teachers will need to posses adequate teaching competences and specific subject knowledge to be able to work successfully with their students the new educational content. The emerging specific competences required allowed us to see up to what extend there has been an essential change in the educational content and its teaching/learning practice. This in its turn permitted us to evaluate the effects of the curriculum reform on the global educational process in the country. 3. The attitude and the opinion of the different stakeholders and actors involved in the educational process. The different stakeholders and the civil society take a certain position on the curriculum reform, which allowed us to measure the degree of their satisfaction with the implicit changes of the reform and the potential success of this reform.The analysis of these three areas allowed us to draw conclusions on and reply to the questions of our investigation concerning:1. whether the curriculum reform was being actually implemented and up to what extend;2. if this reform responds to the expectations and needs of the Bulgarian society and particularly of the actors concerned; 3. if the curriculum reform in Bulgaria leads to a greater degree of alignment and convergence with the educational systems in the OECD countries; 4. if the educational reform not only facilitates the acquisition of knowledge and competences, but also the ethic and citizenship formation of students;5. if in the implementation process of the curriculum reform exist obstacles and problems which could condition in a negative way the implementation of future reforms in the sector. For the collection of the data on the areas mentioned above we carried out 96 interviews in Sofia between 2003 and 2007, and we administered 201 questionnaires across Bulgaria. The selection of the informants was based on three main categories:a) the social category comprising representatives from non-governmental organizations, parents' associations, and students from secondary education and higher education; b) the category of educators including teachers in secondary education schools, professors in higher education (universities) and trainers in in-service training for teachers; and c) the category of administrative staff comprising Ministry officials responsible for educational policy development, secondary school directors, unions' directors and inspectors from the regional inspectorates.The conclusions of this investigation may be useful both for bringing information on the current process of reforms in Bulgaria as well as for guiding other future processes that take place in the rest of the transitional Balkan countries and East Europe. Key words: Curriculum policy, Bulgaria, Secondary education

Why do some ethnic groups mobilize in violent ways whereas some others mobilize by using peaceful methods? And why do some ethnic groups seek integration while some others pursue separatist goals? This dissertation proposes a theoretical framework to answer these questions. It suggests that a state’s ethnic incorporation policies shape both why (centripetal or centrifugal aims) and how (peaceful or violent methods) ethnic groups mobilize. It argues that (1) consocitionalism recognizes ethnic groups and grants a degree of political autonomy to them, yet limits individuals’ political participation via non-ethnic channels of political participation; and, therefore, it leads to peaceful and moderately centrifugal ethnic mobilizations; (2) liberal multiculturalism recognizes ethnic groups, grants a degree of political autonomy to them, and allows individuals to participate in politics via non-ethnic channels; and, therefore, it leads to peaceful and moderately centripetal mobilizations; (3) civic assimilationism neither recognizes ethnic groups nor grants a degree of political autonomy to them, yet allows individuals to participate in politics via non-ethnic channels; and therefore it leads to peaceful and centripetal mobilizations of groups which lack pre-existing ethnic mobilization; but it leads to moderately violent and centrifugal mobilizations of groups which have strong pre-existing ethnic mobilizations; and (4) ethnocracies neither recognize ethnic groups nor grant a degree of political autonomy to them, and they also limit individuals’ political participation via non-ethnic channels. Therefore, they lead to centrifugal and violent ethnic mobilizations. The dissertation uses a mixed method research design. The hypotheses are tested based on the Minorities at Risk data as well as the case studies of ethnic Turks in Bulgaria and Cyprus, and Kurds and the Roma in Turkey. The case studies benefit from an extensive field research in Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Turkey using original interviews with former and current guerillas, guerilla families, political activists, and politicians from each ethnic group under scrutiny and archival research on newspapers and legal documents. The findings indicate that politics of ethnic accommodation are not only an explanation for the causes of different ethnic mobilization patterns, but also a feasible remedy for ethnic disputes spanning all over the world. / text

Developing countries are quite attractive destinations for foreign investments in various economic sectors.Whether an MNC can successfully enter these markets embodies the aptitude to understand the external macroeconomic and social environment of the host country. An MNC must adjust their competitive stance, decipher adequate market potential and uncover the relevant entry strategy to acquire operational success. We have built a framework surrounded by essential operational strategy. This concerns matching a firm's resources and capabilities to the opportunities that arise in the external environment. In most common literature, emphasis lies within identification of profit opportunities in the external environment of the firm. Imperative emphasis shifts from the interface between strategy and the external environment; towards the interface between strategy and the internal environment. In this context, the concentration of the organization's resources and capabilities is targeted to combat turbulent external environments and devise a secure foundation for long term strategy. To understand why the resource-based view has had a major impact on strategy assessment, a preceding glimpse for strategy formulation can be considered. Conventionally, firms have answered the question “who are our customers?” “What are their needs we're seeking to serve?” “Who are our Competitors?” “How can gain a competitive advantage?” Through answering these questions in conjunction with macroeconomic analysis are inevitable prerequisites for pinpointing the key success factors (KSF) for the individual market segments. The KSF are the factors within the company's market environment that determine its ability to prosper and survive exploiting its core resources.

The study considers archaeological evidence for burials and other mortuary practices from the Late Chalcolithic period in north-east Bulgaria. The Late Chalcolithic is defined (circa 4500-4000 B.C.) and around 900 burials are attributed to two cultural groups within the region in this period. It is argued that previous studies of the evidence can be rejected for assuming a straightforward equivalence between burial forms and social structures. An alternative model of social organization is proposed based on the 'structuration' and 'habitus' models of Giddens and Bourdieu which emphasize the role of the individual in the reproduction of social institutions. This framework is used to examine the importance of (mortuary) rituals and the symbolic use of material culture in strategies intended to maintain or alter the distribution of power and resources. The data is examined using quantitative measures of spatial and temporal variability and statistical measures of association between variables. It is argued that two basic patterns can be discerned and which correspond to the defined cultures. The inland cultural pattern is further divided into two 'types' based on the location and forms of burials. Burial forms and grave goods are also examined qualitatively and the values attributed to artefacts, materials and the processes of burial are addressed. From this it is argued that meanings are fundamentally mediated through processes of reciprocation between kinship groups and with ancestors. Social structures based on gender and age, the settlement community and residence are proposed. 'Codes' of the use of material culture within mortuary rituals are described and evaluated through a consideration of assemblages and performance. Changes within and between cemeteries over time are used to reconstruct patterns of competition and emulation. The interpretations of social interaction in burial practices are related to other forms of evidence from the Late Chalcolithic in north-east Bulgaria and suggestions made for a new understanding of social organization in both cultures. The conclusions are placed in a wider spatial and temporal perspective and conclusions presented relating to both the data studied and the theoretical models adopted.

Thèse--Université de Paris. / Without thesis statement. "Bibliographie": p. [217-220].

<p>Developing countries are quite attractive destinations for foreign investments in various economic sectors.Whether an MNC can successfully enter these markets embodies the aptitude to understand the external macroeconomic and social environment of the host country. An MNC must adjust their competitive stance, decipher adequate market potential and uncover the relevant entry strategy to acquire operational success. We have built a framework surrounded by essential operational strategy. This concerns matching a firm's resources and capabilities to the opportunities that arise in the external environment. In most common literature, emphasis lies within identification of profit opportunities in the external environment of the firm. Imperative emphasis shifts from the interface between strategy and the external environment; towards the interface between strategy and the internal environment. In this context, the concentration of the organization's resources and capabilities is targeted to combat turbulent external environments and devise a secure foundation for long term strategy. To understand why the resource-based view has had a major impact on strategy assessment, a preceding glimpse for strategy formulation can be considered. Conventionally, firms have answered the question “who are our customers?” “What are their needs we're seeking to serve?” “Who are our Competitors?” “How can gain a competitive advantage?” Through answering these questions in conjunction with macroeconomic analysis are inevitable prerequisites for pinpointing the key success factors (KSF) for the individual market segments. The KSF are the factors within the company's market environment that determine its ability to prosper and survive exploiting its core resources.</p>

This thesis describes the morphology and lexicon of the dialect of Romany spoken in Kotel, Bulgaria. The introduction shows the position of the dialect within Bulgarian Romany and gives brief details of its speakers (pp 12-15). A phonological transcription is used for the morphology and lexicon. This reveals the relationship between Kotel and other dialects, a relationship normally concealed by its phonetic system. The paradigmatic affixes added to nominals are listed with their variants and specimen paradigms are given (pp 16-31) . Verbs are similarly treated, with special notes on medio-passives and impersonal verbs (pp 32-42). The affixes used in building compound-words are listed with their variants and numerous examples (pp 43-59) o A brief note is included on some non-productive methods of word-formation (p. 60). The changes undergone by loan-words from Turkish and Bulgarian are summarized, together with the paradigmatic affixes used with loans from these languages and Greek (pp 61-66). Two texts are given in phonological transcription with a translation and notes, to illustrate the morphology (pp 67-94). A Romany-English lexicon follows, together with some shorter word-lists(pp 95-202) . The lexicon excludes those loan-words which are freely formed by stated rules from Turkish and Bulgarian, languages with which the people are familiar. Finally phonological rules are given which conver the symbols used up to this point into a broad phonetic transcription (pp 203-211), and a text in parallel phonological and phonetic transcription illustrates the application of these rules (pp 212-219). A concise bibliography concludes the study.