The Market of Loyalties in Bulgarian Politics: Political Parties as Distributors of Transnational Ideologies via Freedom of Expression and Hate Speech Discourse

• In Event: Global Perspectives in the Governance of Freedom of Expression

Abstract

According to Freedom House (2015), global press freedom declined in 2014 to its lowest point in more than 10 years. Bulgaria’s rating has deteriorated gradually since 2002, when it was rated #38 of 134 countries, to a staggering #106 of 180 countries in 2015. This is despite the proliferation of hate speech that is used by ultra-nationalistic political parties such as Ataka, targeting ethnic Turks, Roma, Jews, and Syrian refugees among others.
Through Price’s (1994) market of loyalties approach, this paper grapples with the following questions: If freedom of expression is restricted to this extent, but hate speech is robust, what is being censored in Bulgaria? The increase of hate speech compromises peace, so how is the political environment fostering the increasing number of ultra-nationalistic parties since 2005? Finally, why do media regulators restrict freedom of expression while concurrently tolerating hate speech?

Author

• Yasemin Y. Celikkol, Annenberg School for Communication / U of Pennsylvania