Cooperatives In Bulgaria In Transitional Periods

Abstract

After gaining its independence, Bulgaria was ruled first by the Kingdom, and after the Second World War, by Communism. After 1990, it switched to democracy and capitalist economy. In these periods, how the cooperatives were implemented in Bulgaria was examined and the success situation was analyzed. In the planned economy of communism, agriculture passed to cooperatives completely under state control. Ownership of land and means of production is limited by the constitution. After 1990, there has been a radical restructuring in the agricultural sector. Collective farms were disbanded and property rights in the lands were returned to their beneficiaries according to the new constitution. As a method, the comparative practices of Bulgarian economy and cooperatives in the transition periods were examined. The evolution of the agricultural policy in the Kingdom into cooperatives, the example of the understanding of cooperatives in the Soviet Union during the communist era, and the compatibility of the Western states with the free market economy in the transition to democracy were analyzed. In this context, articles and books written in Turkish, English and Bulgarian were examined and the literature on the subject was searched. Cooperatives, which aimed to develop peasants and agriculture during the Kingdom period, became state-led during the socialism period, and unfortunately lost their fighting power after 1990, especially after the 1996/1997 crisis. Today, the main challenge for Bulgaria as an EU member is to reassess the role cooperatives can play in economic and social development through self-organization, self-help and solidarity among people.