Populist Narratives About Migration in Bulgaria: The “Refugee Crisis”

Abstract

Migration is a highly politicized phenomenon. It is one of the favourite topics of populists who create crises with their narratives about it. The Bulgarian case is particularly interesting. A country of immigrants, with an acute demographic problem, whose politicians (re)discover immigrants and turn them into the most convenient “other”. The lack of experience with „visible“ immigrant communities and the (mis)presentation of immigration processes as a national catastrophe in the poorest of the EU member states, against the background of dominant populist discourses, lead to negative public attitudes towards asylum seekers. Political anti-immigrant discourse is translated into policies or lack thereof, which in both cases creates a crisis.