Catching up and falling behind : Bulgaria and Greece at the turn of the twentieth century
Part of : Balkan studies : biannual publication of the Institute for Balkan Studies ; Vol.42, No.1-2, 2001, pages 125-141
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125-141
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Articles
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Abstract:
Bulgaria and Greece are a prime example of the possibilities and limits of the process of the belated and accelerated Balkan modernization. For mostof the late 19th and early 20th centuries the two countries have beenstagnating. At the end of the Second World War each undertook a differentstrategy to overcome historical backwardness.The two countries were considered the economic miracles of their owneconomic blocks. Yet the crisis of the early 1970s and particularly the decadeof the 1990s revealed the dark side of the two countries’ economic dynamism.Their dramatic economic and social transformation caused the second postwarmiracle -the gradual and peaceful democratization of the political systemssince1974 in Greece and since 1989 in Bulgaria. The analysis of the postwardevelopment of Greece and Bulgaria brings us to a moderate optimism.Despite the persistent lag vis-à-vis developed Europe (particularly great inthe case of Bulgaria), both countries can claim that they belong to the modernworld. The “dirty work” of modernization, which in the West had takencenturies, was carried out by the efforts of two or three postwar generations ofBulgarians and Greeks.
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Ελλάδα-Βουλγαρία
Notes:
Το άρθρο περιέχει πίνακες.
