On a Pathway to a Global Society? Bulgaria’s Migration / Border Policy in the Context of its EU Membership – Implications for its Handling of Syrian Refugees (2013-2014)

The paper puts into focus the concept and practice of the global society today. Striving to measure both the hindrances and potentials for its full-fledged development a critical perspective on the term is being assumed. For this purpose, the construction of local role boundaries with regards to migrants is being discussed on the background of Bulgaria’s migration/border policy in the context of the EU membership of the state. In this framework, an overview of the official and (to a lesser extent) unofficial reactions is being proposed on the occasion of the arrival of thousands of Syrian refugees in the country in the autumn of 2013. How could a “Bulgarian” case study contribute to our understanding of the social role played by states in times of global migration? How does it illuminate the current status of the global society or the very value of this theoretical concept?