Petya Liubomirova Kabakchieva Petya Kabakchieva studied sociology at the University of Sofia (Bulgaria) and finished her doctorate with a thesis entitled "Politische Macht und Eliten" (‘Political Power and Political Elites’). Today she is an assistant professor at the Department of Sociology at the University of Sofia. She has received several research grants (among others, she was a Visiting Fellow at the Institut für Wissenschaften vom Menschen in Vienna in 2002) and completed several studies on the socio-political situation in Bulgaria financed by international organizations, such as NATO, the UNDP and the World Bank. Worth mentioning are the projects "Europe in the Mirror of Bulgarian Political and Expert Discourse” (Sofia University 2001) and "After the Accession – Economic and Social Culture in east-central Europe: Are They EU Compatible?” (2002). Kabakchieva’s social- and political-science interests are chiefly applied to post-communist Bulgarian society, their institutions and discourses. In her teaching and research she is concerned with questions and problems of social regulation, social classification, civil society, the European processes of civilization and dispute settlement, as well as the culture and politics of identity. Of special importance, perhaps, is her case study "Civil Society vs. State: The Bulgarian Case” (2001). In her current research the question as to how far the European Union functions as a substitute for the nation-state predominates, as well as the debate about local history and regional identity. In the context of the project "The Post-Communist Condition,” she will be analyzing, jointly with Iva Kyumdgieva, the restrictions currently facing the Bulgarian artist and the effects they have upon artistic creation. Return to Index