Post-enlargement populism and democracy in new member states: variations on a theme

How is populism formulated and what are their implication for the future of party politics and representative democracy in the former communist countries? These intertwined questions provide the impetus behind the present chapter, which focusses on Bulgaria and Romania. This choice is justified by the fact that both countries experienced comparable economic and political challenges, but differed in major aspects, such as the patterns of political competition and the visibility of populist formulae in the most recent elections. The Eurozone crisis, together with the weaknesses of the domestic economic infrastructure, exposed these countries to variations in GDP and employment rates. Overall, these features make Bulgaria and Romania interesting case studies for research on the relationship between populism and democracy.