Political Identification Theory in Bulgaria-Samples for Students

Question: Develop a rough and ready theory of Party Identification. Taking the Case of Bulgaria, and considering only those who identify with one of the several major parliamentary represented parties, brainstorm to come up with some hypotheses that help to explain why some people think of themselves as Socialists, while others think of themselves as Liberals, supporters of GERB. Answer: Political Identification Theory in Bulgaria The following write up is development of political party identification theory in Bulgaria. The theory will hypothesis on dependent variables that make people identify themselves as Socialist, Nationalist or Liberal within a countrys political parties. The parties in Bulgaria are GERB, Patriotic Block, and BSP. These parties represent a big deal of ideologies such GERB is conservative, BSP is socialist, and Patriotic Block is an alliance of Nationalists1. GERB has 95 parliament seats out of the total 240 and a popular vote of 32%. GERB is the most popular party and is lead by Boyko Borisov who is the incumbent prime mister of Bulgarian. BSP is an acronym for Bulgarian Socialist Party which is the second popular party in Bulgaria with 27%. BSP has 80 seats out of the total 240 seats in Bulgarian Parliament and is the official opposition party in the country. Patriotic block Party is made of nationalist electoral alliance from different political parties in Bulgaria. These alliances in clude National Front Salvation of Bulgarian and Bulgarian National Movement. The party has no parliamentary seat and only has one seat in the European Parliament. The Party had 19 parliamentary seats in 2014 with a popular vote of 7.29%2. The following theory hypothesizes that a person age, economic-classes, religion, and ethnic belonging determine the party identification of an individual to Socialist, Nationalist or Liberal as the ideologies are represented by the countrys political parties. Age in this theory refers to an independent variable on the age category of an individual that can either be 18-35, 36-55, 56-over. People in different age category have different perception and have different priorities that define their identity. Young people (18-35) are energetic, ambitious (think of a perfect world) and open to new ideas in life that lead to a political party alignment in liberalizationn3. People between the age of 36 and 50 are parents and focus much of their energy to preparing better future for their children. This age category wants stable economy, resources, and opportunities to better themselves and the country. This age category therefore aligns to political parties with Nationalism or Socialism ideol ogy. Old people are conservative and admire socialism and conservative ideologies. The economic class in the theory refers to financial base of an individual or family that influences person ideologies. Economic classes in Bulgaria are; low class (poor), middle class and rich. Rich people are attracted liberalism and conservative ideologies while poor people are attracted by socialism4. An individual ethnicity refers to distinct individual dialect or origin and is part of Bulgaria. The Bulgaria languages include Bulgarian who is the majority, followed by Turkish at 9.6%, Roma at 4.1% and other at 1%. The majority ethnicity prefers conservative ideologies that protect their cultures and traditions while minorities prefer socialism ideologies than enhance inclusivity in the country5. The other independent variable is religion. Religion refers to an individual belief and worship. Bulgaria is a secular state and has several religions. They include; Christianity, Muslims and others. More than 80% of Bulgarian population belongs to Bulgarian Orthodox Church while 10% are Muslims and 12% do not identify themselves with any religion. Religious people are conservative and think in preserving traditions and culture and care for other people6. This makes them resistant or slow to change and mind about the society welfare that contribute to their political alignment to conservatives and socialist. Non religious people do not believe or think of supernatural power and therefore mind little about other people in the society. This lead to political identification with parties that is liberal. In summary, the theory therefore concludes that an individual supports political parties that align with their personal ideologies. References Berglund, Sten, ed. The handbook of political change in Eastern Europe. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2013. Kopeck, Petr, Peter Mair, and Maria Spirova, eds. Party patronage and party government in European democracies. Oxford University Press, 2012. Kaneva, Nadia, and Delia Popescu. "National identity lite: Nation branding in post-Communist Romania and Bulgaria." International Journal of Cultural Studies 14, no. 2 (2011): 191-207. Sussman, Abigail B., Kristina Petkova, and Alexander Todorov. "Competence ratings in US predict presidential election outcomes in Bulgaria." Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 49, no. 4 (2013): 771-775.Latcheva, Rossalina. "Nationalism versus patriotism, or the floating border? National identification and ethnic exclusion in post-communist Bulgaria." Journal of comparative research in anthropology and sociology 1, no. 2 (2010): 187. Spirova, Maria, and Boyka Stefanova. "The European dimension of minority political representation: Bulgaria and Romania compared." East European Politics and Societies 26, no. 1 (2012): 75-92.