Multi-Level Bargaining Cartels in Periods of Transitions: On the Example of Bulgaria

This paper examines the levels of social dialogues and the specific links among them that have emerged during the post-communist transformations of central and eastern Europe. Using evidence from Bulgaria, the author adds to the debate over the type of worldwide change in bargaining structures, with the argument that currently the post-communist region is experiencing neither decentralization nor centralization of bargaining structures. Instead, surviving state socialist structures designed to resolve conflicts on a hierarchical basis and the new, transformation-driven centralization of power have combined with decentralizing and democratizing efforts to create specific multi-level bargaining cartels. In such cartels, the scope of bargaining is both more extensive and intensive. It involves the interplay of participants and issues from different levels that contributes importantly for the advancement of economic restructuring and political democratization

"Business-Government Relations in EU-Acceding Countries: Towards a Model of Institutional Change"

[From the introduction]. Using an institutionalist approach grounded in the comparative Europeanization literature, this study explores institutional change in the business-government relationship in the EU acceding countries from the post-communist region. Similar to the neo-pluralist (societal) approach (see Nowell, 1996), the institutionalist approach emphasizes the importance of business-state alliances in determining political and policy outcomes and the fulfillment of business strategic objectives. Unlike the neo-pluralist approach, however, which emphasizes primarily the desire of business to control the state (Gibbs, 1991; Cox, 1994; Ferguson, 1983, 1984, 1995; Ferguson and Rogers, 1986; Frieden, 1988; Abraham, 1986), the institutionalist approach counts for the goals of business, but regards these goals as significantly constrained – defined and shaped – by institutions.3 Institutions have always played a vital role in the EU integrative processes, including EU accession; the European Union is a polity heavily grounded in institutions (Katzenstein, 1997). What matters most in the case of European integration are the European common law, the acquis communautaire, and the EU common policy content and procedures. As Christopher Preston observes, the requirements that EU candidate countries take on board the entire acquis communautaire with no permanent derogations allowed; and that the accession negotiations concentrate exclusively on the practical aspects of the adoption of the acquis by the applicants, stand on top of the list of principles applied in all EU enlargement rounds (Preston, 1997). These requirements consequently define EU integration and more specifically the EU enlargement process as a highly institutionalized one

Determinants of Sovereign Investment Protectionism: the Case of Bulgaria’s Nuclear Energy Sector

Foreign direct investment (FDI) by entities controlled by foreign governments (especially state-owned enterprises) is a new global phenomenon that is most often linked to the rise of emerging markets such as China and Russia. Host governments have struggled to properly react to this type of investment activity especially in key strategic sectors and critical infrastructure that ultimately raise questions of national security. Academic research on sovereign investment as a factor contributing to the new global protectionist trend is very limited, and predominantly focused on sovereign investors from China. This study explores the specifics of Russian sovereign investment in the former Soviet Bloc countries, now members of the European Union, especially in strategic sectors such as energy. We use the case of Bulgaria’s nuclear energy sector and the involvement of Russia’s state-owned company Rosatom in the halted Belene nuclear power plant project to analyze the dynamics of policy and politics, political-economic ideologies and historical legacies in the formation of national stances towards Russia as a sovereign investor. Our research contributes to the emerging literature on FDI protectionism and sovereign investment by emphasizing the significance of political-ideological divides and the heritage of the past as determinants of sovereign investment protectionism

Europeanisation of social partnership in EU-acceding countries

With the advancement of the eastern enlargement of the EU, some advocates of the European social model saw enlargement as the ""Trojan horse"" against Europeanization, for the Americanization of Europe. In response, the EU recommended the strengthening of social partnership among business, labor and the state in candidate countries. This paper reveals four major venues for change: (1) emphasis on a new philosophy of social dialogue as social governance; (2) broadening the scope of participants in social dialogue; (3) development of autonomous and multi-level social dialogue among the organizations of employees and employers; and (4) capacity building for participation of the social partners in EU-level social dialogue.social partnership, social dialogue, Eastern enlargement of the European Union