19
TOWARDS STABILIZING THE CONDITIONS FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT?
differences are
to be carefully considered
in the course of the formulation and imple-
mentation of reforms. One of the reasons
for the failure of the monetary shock
therapy is namely the fact that it put a stake
on the urbanist liberal culture. Despite the
relatively high degree of the countrys ur-
banization, the economic liberalism has ob-
viously clashed with influential cultural
orientations that are difficult to agree with
its individualist principles. On a political
scale this contradiction became obvious in
the results of parliamentary and local elec-
tions. That is why future reform strategies
in
the field of economy,
health care, edu-
cation and social policy should more fully
take into account these cultural facts and
their broad and lasting influence.
1.4. Sustainable development:
problems and tendencies
The main aim of the Bulgaria 1995.
Human Development Report was to support
the nationally-responsible dialogue on
major problems facing sustainable human
development in Bulgarian society. Possible
and desirable ways for their solution have
also been outlined. The need of consolidat-
ing state institutions, and unequivocally as-
suming the political responsibility for deci-
sions vital to the nation has been pushed
to the forefront. This problem continues
to be painfully urgent, since the basic stages
of economic restructuring and reforming
other spheres of social life are yet to come.
The rapid change of internal and external
conditions makes these problems even
more acute, especially in view of the need
to make the long-term development pros-
pect more concrete.
At the same time experience from last
years shows that parallel with some first
instances of stabilization
of Bulgarian so-
ciety, certain old sources of social tensions
and conflicts become re-activated in addi-
tion to new ones. They function in all ma-
jor spheres and directions of transforming
Bulgarian society.
Economic restructuring is the deepest
and most lengthy process in the social trans-
formation now underway. Profound
changes in technologies, sectoral structure,
forms of ownership, organization of eco-
nomic relations in the country and in for-
eign-trade orientations, are still forthcom-
ing. These changes have and will have a
sizeable and lasting impact on the condi-
tions of development and fulfillment of
basic groups in Bulgarian society and on
the individual. The most visible part of
these problems is the still high rate of un-
employment that will most probably grow
further with the forthcoming close-down
of unprofitable enterprises in 1996. Eco-
nomic reforms pose essentially new de-
mands to educational and qualification
level, organizational skills and labour atti-
tudes. Many questions remain open as to
harmonizing economic restructuring with
the sought optimization of the conditions
for human development and fulfillment.
One of the main characteristics of the
implemented transformation of society is
the establishment of a stratum of private
entrepreneurs. It has come into being in the
conditions of quick economic and political
changes, of ambiguous legal norms, un-
It is natural that peoples incomes differ
greatly (national sample, June 1995, in %)
Figure 1.6.
Old sources of conflict,
in addition to new ones,
are re-activated
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT ! BULGARIA 1996
20
stable state institutions and insecure cul-
tural orientations. These conditions have
left a lasting imprint on the stimuli and
barriers to entrepreneurship, and on the
new organizational structure and culture
that is being formed through its activities.
The key problem in this context are the
possibilities to coordinate the interests of
private entrepreneurship and the national
interests, the needs of development and
fulfillment of the other population groups.
Municipalities are the basic adminis-
trative and organizational center of the
economic, political and cultural processes
in the country. Their situation most directly
determines the
way of life and fulfillment
of the individual. The main problem of
municipalities is their uneven development.
Many of them are in a critical situation.
This demands a lot of purposeful efforts in
regional policy aimed at overcoming and
averting crises in municipal, hence in hu-
man, development.
Due to natural, historical, economic,
demographic and administrative reasons,
the countrys settlement system and settle-
ments have been developing unevenly. This
unevenness is further intensified by the
present conditions of transition. The result
is specific conditions for human develop-
ment and fulfillment, some of which are
rather unfavourable. The normative system
and organizational structure should be im-
proved so as to successfully solve the com-
plex problems in the territorial develop-
ment of production, in the building of settle-
ment infrastructure and the housing prob-
lem.
Regions in the country differ greatly
in their socioeconomic characteristics. This
also determines big differences in regional
labour markets. The goals of the national
and regional economic policy require a
close monitoring of their dynamics and the
main factors that determine it - technologi-
cal and sectoral restructuring, development
of the private sector, investments, as well
as the age, ethnic, educational and other
population characteristics. This analysis is
an indispensable premise for outlining ver-
sions of the future development of regional
labour markets.
Nearly all demographic processes in
Bulgaria have negative tendencies. Since
the early nineties a lasting and sizeable
depopulation has been witnessed, stem-
ming from the mass emigration and the
high death rate that is increasingly outstrip-
ping the birth rate. Particularly alarming
are the demographic processes in most of
the mountainous and semi-mountainous
regions, and in the majority of villages. The
open questions in this context concern the
feasible and required demographic policy
in the present social and economic condi-
tions. The choice of priorities in heavily
depopulated municipalities and some popu-
lation groups awaits political solutions. The
main question concerns the choice of a
most effective demographic policy in cur-
rent conditions and the way of its imple-
mentation.
The main activities of health-care
policy take place in regions and municipali-
ties. The solution of health-care problems
demands an accurate analysis of the health
status of the population in different regions,
as well as a regionalized policy for imple-
menting the adopted strategy of health-care
development, entitled Health for Bul-
garia (1995). Many are the pending ques-
tions of the regional distribution of health-
care establishments and their functions, of
the number and training of medical staff,
and their financial support.
Substantial changes have set in in the
regional characteristics of the educational
system. Reforms have greatly affected sec-
ondary and higher education, though in dif-
ferent ways. The present state of the
economy, and especially the prospects of
its development, require that special atten-
tion be devoted to vocational training in
secondary schools. Many problems have
been raised by the sharp quantitative
growth of higher education that more of-
ten than not is not linked with the neces-
sary qualitative changes. The national and