Angelova-Mladenova, Lilia;
(2024)
Independent living policies in the context of EU
accession and membership:
the case of Bulgaria.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
The thesis explores the limits of disability policy reforms in Bulgaria in promoting disabled people’s independence and inclusion, within the context of its accession and membership in the European Union (EU). It examines the interrelationships among: (1) EU influence, (2) policy frames and (3) the capacity and willingness of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) to advocate for independent living policies. Empirically, the research draws on documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with domestic and European NGO, European Commission staff, and Bulgarian civil servants. The research argues that Europeanisation did not challenge the highly problematic status quo of disability policy in Bulgaria, which is dominated by paternalism and segregation. What is more, this process actually facilitated the maintenance of the status quo. Using personal assistance policies as a case study, the research finds that while the EU influence supported the introduction of a social inclusion perspective, the strong focus on economic and market considerations, both prior and after accession, hindered the development of assistance services as a tool for independent living. Together with this, the changes in funding mechanisms, accompanying Bulgaria’s membership in the EU, negatively affected NGOs capacity and willingness to advocate for policy change and shifted the balance of power towards the state and traditional, state-friendly, disability organisations. Although EU membership allowed NGOs to mobilise external pressure and influence domestic policy agenda (for example, in the case of deinstitutionalisation) the potential of actual policies to support disabled people’s participation and independence remained limited.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Independent living policies in the context of EU accession and membership: the case of Bulgaria |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2023. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of Arts and Humanities |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10189303 |
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