Demography and Nation
Social Legislation and Population Policy in Bulgaria, 1918–1944
Publication Year: 2011
Published by: Central European University Press
Cover
Series Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Download PDF (128.9 KB)
pp. v-viii
Transliteration table of Bulgarian Cyrillic
Download PDF (68.2 KB)
p. ix-ix
List of Tables
Download PDF (69.6 KB)
p. x-x
Acknowledgements
Download PDF (74.7 KB)
pp. xi-xii
Introduction
Download PDF (1.3 MB)
pp. 1-40
In 2005, the European Commission published the Green Paper Confronting Demographic Change: A New Solidarity between the Generations, which addressed the latest developments in Europe’s demographic situation, and, in particular, outlined the challenges of a new demographic “crisis.” The...
Part I: Regenerating a Defeated Nation
Chapter 1: Building up a Maternal and Child Healthcare Service
Download PDF (1.3 MB)
pp. 43-82
Economic destruction, political instability and demoralization followed a series of failures to achieve national unification through war. In the expressive and metaphorical language of Dr Raiko Daskalov,1 Minister of the Interior and People’s Health (1922–1923), Bulgaria resembled a “sick man on his...
Chapter 2: Public Assistance
Download PDF (1.3 MB)
pp. 83-124
In the second half of the 1930s and the early 1940s, the scope of state policies in the social welfare field expanded, and the state intervened directly in the family under the form of the 1934 Decree-Law for Public Assistance. The latter broadly targeted the most vulnerable social groups—”the absolutely...
Part II: Towards Pronatalism
Chapter 3: Demography, Media representations, and Parliamentary Discourse
Download PDF (1.3 MB)
pp. 127-168
In the late 1930s, the notion that the country was suffering from a “spiritual crisis” infiltrated Bulgarian public space, imbuing it with the ultra-nationalistic and fascist ideology of neo-traditionalism.1 External, and especially international factors, such as Marxist, bolshevist, pacifist, or cosmopolitan...
Chapter 4: Activities “From Below”: The League of Mnogodetni, Child-Rich Parents
Download PDF (1.3 MB)
pp. 169-206
In 1939, a grassroots organization came to the political forefront and became an energetic vehicle for promoting the welfare of child-rich, mnogodetni parents and especially, those of poor peasant families. Thriving in increasingly authoritarian times, the League boldly took the initiative to urge the state to...
Chapter 5: Petŭr Gabrovski and the Law for Large, Mnogodetni Bulgarian Families
Download PDF (1.3 MB)
pp. 207-244
It was Petŭr Gabrovski, Minister of the Interior and People’s Health, who imposed his own vision of a Bill for Bulgarian Large, Mnogodetni Families on the National Assembly for discussion and acceptance. By 31 March 1943, however, when Bulgaria’s first pronatalist law was enacted, the political...
Conclusions
Download PDF (1.0 MB)
pp. 245-252
This work has attempted to investigate the link between population trends, social policy, and the national good in one part of early twentieth-century Southeastern Europe. In particular, it has focused on the origins of Bulgaria’s pronatalist policies, tracing them back to their roots in the country’s...
Bibliography
Download PDF (327.5 KB)
pp. 253-276
Index
Download PDF (86.6 KB)
pp. 277-280
Back Cover
E-ISBN-13: 9786155211928
Print-ISBN-13: 9789639776661
Page Count: 294
Publication Year: 2011
Series Title: CEU Press Studies in the History of Medicine
Series Editor Byline: Marius Turda
