ABSTRACT
Few observers of communist politics predicted the downfall of the Soviet empire and the rapid emergence of democratizing states in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s. Bulgaria can be counted among those states struggling with the process of rebuilding its political institutions and reshaping political attitudes to meet the needs of a modern, democratic state. Of the many issues that the Bulgarian political elite have confronted during the transition process, reforming the armed services has occupied the top of the agenda.
