THE SOCIAL STATE IN THE 21ST CENTURY - MYTH OR REALITY

Abstract

The challenges to the socio-political and socio-economic development of Bulgaria since the end of the last century and continuing in the first two decades of the 21st century, permanently provoke more than one or two trials before it. Going through the vicissitudes of the transition from a planned-centralized to a market economy and a democratic model of government and its acceptance as a member of the Euro-Atlantic structures, it strengthened the neoliberal model of government for our country. And the further we move away from the beginning of the transition after 1989, the more Bulgarian society moves away from its values, people's psychology, economic stability. Expectations to build a better model for development with a sustainable business environment, economic growth, higher incomes, employment, social justice, modern health care, quality training and education, adequate to innovative thinking and modern technologies, increasingly diverge from reality. The result is the depopulation of many villages, closed and destroyed schools, the health system as opposed to one of the original constitutional freedoms - free health care for every citizen of the country, frequent global economic crises, accompanied by inflation, critical infrastructure, demographic collapse, aging population, unemployment, severe social injustice. Against the background of proclaiming our choice of European and democratic values, our country ranks in the ranking of the poorest and highest mortality among the member states of the European Union. Especially in the last two years marked by the COVID pandemic. And all this accompanied by political instability after 12 years of one-party rule, corrupt practices that have spread to the "high" levels of government and the established oligarchic and "mafia" model. Indicative in this respect are the three electoral votes held for the previous year in search of a model for change, restoration of statehood, legality, welfare state. Frequent discussions in this direction are increasingly looking for answers to the questions of why we came here and where the way out is, how to direct public resources to ensure cherished social justice. This provokes the purpose of our scientific research in this publication in the search for an answer to whether the welfare state is a myth or a reality in the 21st century, whether it is possible to achieve social justice and what social policies should be pursued in the interest of social security.