The Autocrat's Handbook and How It's Implemented in Bulgaria

Comment by Alexander Detev: Imagine the following hypothetical situation: two political leaders who rule a country and have direct access to public resources are fathers of several children by different women. Journalists reveal that these women and children respectively live in expensive homes in, say, Spain and Dubai, without it being clear where the income they used to acquire the luxury properties came from. Obviously, it needs to be checked whether this is not a misuse of taxpayers' money. Now imagine this: the journalists who spread this information go to prison for between 1 and 6 years and pay a fine of between 2,000 and 50,000 leva. But let's get out of the hypothetical scenarios: this is exactly what could have happened in Bulgaria if the bill by "There is such a people" to amend the Penal Code had come into force. It had already been adopted by the legal committee in parliament by GERB, BSP, DPS-New Beginning and "Vazrazhdane". However, then Boyko Borisov intervened in his capacity as the sole administrator of our future and announced that the bill would be withdrawn, even though representatives of his own party had already supported it. But why did Slavi Trifonov's party, whose members have never before been shy about digging into the private lives of politicians and public figures and even making vulgar suggestions about women in politics, insist on such legal changes? The answer probably lies in a well-developed strategy that journalists and political scientists often call "The Autocrat's Handbook". "The Autocrat's Handbook" is a series of measures and policies that a political-economic clique must implement in order to have complete control over public resources, institutions and the non-governmental sector in a country. Or in other words - to turn it into an autocracy (Russia), a dictatorship (North Korea) or a sham democracy (Hungary). What are the steps in the handbook? Step 1: Delegitimizing the opposition and civil society This process has been well known in Bulgaria for years. It includes the stigmatization and demonization of civil activists, opposition politicians and human rights defenders - they are called "Sorosoids", "grant-givers", "paid". In addition to public delegitimization, it quite logically leads to self-censorship. It has long been known in Bulgaria that if you are a journalist, human rights activist, judge or other public figure and raise your voice against the status quo, the next day you wake up to a series of compromising and slanderous statements against you in the tabloids. At the same time, the opposition in Bulgaria is systematically delegitimized, as it is blamed for the problems in the country, recently even for the lack of a quorum in parliament, which is presumably the responsibility of the ruling party. If the opposition behaves faultlessly and principledly, the implementation of this chapter of the manual is more difficult, when it itself makes mistakes or engages in provocations, as happened in Georgia last weekend, the implementation is easy. Step 2: Control over the judicial system In democratic countries, the judicial system, higher education and the media enjoy special freedom and the right to inviolability, because they are the guarantor of the functioning of democracy. The judicial system in Bulgaria is subordinate to political-mafia structures, as was publicly revealed in the scandals with Petar Petrov - the Euro, Martin Bozanov - the Notary and other influence brokers. At the top of this judicial system is currently a Supreme Judicial Council, whose mandate has long expired. The head of the prosecutor's office is Borislav Sarafov, who has already been confirmed by the Supreme Court of Cassation to be illegitimately performing the functions of prosecutor general. The Supreme Administrative Court is still governed by Georgi Cholakov, although his mandate also expired nearly a year ago. This creates completely justified and serious doubts about the legitimacy and independence of the judicial authorities. At the same time, this same judicial system has continued to hold the mayor of Varna, Blagomir Kotsev, in custody for four months despite sharp criticism from both lawyers and politicians (even Boyko Borisov), as well as international organizations and European political groups. In most countries where the judicial system is attacked, large-scale protests follow - Poland and Israel, for example. In Bulgaria, there are protests, but they are far from large-scale, because point 1 of the manual has already been implemented well and there is no one to lead them. Step 3: Legal repression The law against LGBTI propaganda in schools, which was adopted at the proposal of "Vazrazhdane" in 2024, was a clear blow not only against this community, but also against the NGO sector and human rights defenders. In essence, this law is very similar to legislation adopted in other authoritarian countries such as Putin's Russia and Orban's Hungary. It was quite logically accompanied by an attempt to push through the law on foreign agents, such as we know from Russia and Georgia, for example. This law was not adopted because it would be difficult to justify to Bulgaria's Western partners. However, this does not mean that the non-governmental sector is not subject to constant attacks. Delyan Peevski, whose party is part of the ruling majority in parliament, recently announced that he would form a temporary committee in the National Assembly "to establish facts and circumstances related to the activities of George Soros and Alexander Soros and their foundations". The proposals of "There is such a people" in recent days are a clear indication that attempts to adopt restrictive legislation against dissenters will not stop. Step 4: Destroying and crushing the media and critical journalists Today, journalists do not need to be intimidated with physical attacks, arson and threats. Politicians, businessmen and other influential figures have found a far more effective way to silence them - through the financial club. SLAPP cases have gained extraordinary popularity in Bulgaria in recent years, and the latest decision of the Supreme Court of Cassation against Mediapool and Boris Mitov for a publication revealing important details of the life of judge Svetlin Mihaylov has set a dangerous precedent. Because while SLAPP cases have been conducted with the presumption that the complainant will someday lose, this is clearly no longer the case. Such cases can completely drain the ability of an editorial office to continue working - regardless of whether it ultimately wins the case or not. The bill by "There is such a people" aimed to hammer another, and perhaps the last, nail into this coffin. Step 5: Help from other autocracies In his book "The Conglomerate Autocracy" American journalist and historian Anne Applebaum explains in detail how autocrats today - from Venezuela to Russia to North Korea - help each other in their efforts to maintain their power at all costs and change the world order. Bulgaria is so far away from these situational alliances against democracy. Partnership with Russia, China and Iran, for example, is not openly sought (except by the BSP, which, let's not forget, is part of the government) because it is not profitable, at least financially. Boyko Borisov is well aware of this. But Borisov is clearly seeking a partnership with the Trump administration. A publication by the "Wall Street Journal" revealed how the former Bulgarian Prime Minister asked Trump's son to remove Bulgarians from the "Magnitsky" list, which also includes Delyan Peevski. At the same time, Bulgaria has been pursuing a quiet and obedient foreign policy for years, which aims to appease the West. In short, it sounds like this: We do whatever you say in terms of foreign policy, regarding migration and armaments, but we count on you to turn a blind eye to the huge problems and dependencies in the judicial system and the media, about which international and non-governmental organizations are sounding the alarm. NATO and the EU need a strong eastern flank against the backdrop of the growing Russian threat and can hardly enter into an open confrontation with Sofia at the moment, and those in power in Bulgaria can successfully take advantage of this. For many years, EU countries similarly avoided an open confrontation with Viktor Orban, until the monster was created and Brussels is currently not paying the heavy price for compromises with Hungary. Yet there is something positive in Bulgaria's ambivalent position - the ruling party cannot afford the brutal trampling of fundamental rights when there is a strong public reaction, because it will also reach Western partners and force them to respond. This probably explains the unilateral withdrawal of the "There are such people" bill by the decision-maker Borisov. The Manual does not envisage a waiver of the steps that need to be taken. On the contrary, it envisages a strategic withdrawal and the search for another convenient moment in which they can be quickly and unnoticed implemented. So the fact that the law on foreign agents in 2024 and apparently now the changes to the Criminal Code failed does not mean that the big goal does not remain the same. In other words: Keep your eyes peeled, because once fully implemented, the Manual does not allow for a return.