Politicising Government Accountability: The Case of Protest Network and the Model “Who?” in Bulgaria

Abstract

The chapter analyses the strategies that the movement Protest Network in Bulgaria used to successfully politicise the issue of the cabinet appointment of the media mogul Delyan Peevski. The theoretical odds were against the success of such politicisation because claims surrounding his appointment were not considered “explosive enough” to inspire outrage and because movements contesting this issue were not regarded as representative enough to be taken seriously by the incumbents. The chapter argues that Protest Network turned the odds around by politicising both the public and the issue. It politicised the public by (1) reaching out to potential protesters to make the movement more representative and (2) creating unity among existing protesters to make the movement more coherent. Protest Network politicised the issue of Peevski’s appointment by employing four strategies: (1) branding the appointment under the “Who?” model, so the movement’s demands were easier to identify; (2) tagging on various claims, so that the demands were more comprehensive; (3) connecting the “Who” question to more long-standing dissatisfactions in society, so that the demands were more durable; and (4) humouring Mr. Peevski, so that the demands were easier to relate to. All these strategies helped the movement make the Peevski appointment one of the most popular, influential and contested topics in Bulgarian politics since June 2013.

Keywords

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