The social and political landscape in Bulgaria increasingly resembles scenes from a dark TV series - a mixture of violence, absurdity and grotesque.
"The combination of these things creates an experience similar to "Twin Peaks", that under the thin surface of normality, of routine, of our usual life, madness is hidden, something terrifying is hidden. This is a mood that currently, not without the help of the media, has captured the minds of a large part of the people in the country, and from a mental health perspective, this is not good at all," said social anthropologist Haralan Alexandrov in the studio of "Denyat ON AIR".
Entering the pre-election phase in such an "overexcited" public state hides serious risks.
"In practice, politicians become screens onto which all negative emotions are projected - hatred, suspicion, envy, contempt. Being hated is becoming part of the job description," Alexandrov told Bulgaria ON AIR.
In this sense, a figure with institutional experience and a moderate tone can have a stabilizing role.
Aleksandrov sees such potential in the incumbent President Iliana Yotova, who, according to him, combines political maturity, goodwill and a sense of responsibility in a difficult moment.
The big problem facing all new political projects remains human resources.
"The most natural reaction to a situation in which the global world is clearly not working is to turn to the nation-state and try to strengthen and protect its foundation. We are seeing a very serious retreat from fantasies of happy globalization to concern for the state of the nation and institutions," Alexandrov pointed out. Regarding the oligarchy, Aleksandrov is skeptical of the rhetoric of "struggle".
History shows that such battles rarely lead to a real result - more often to the transformation or integration of the "fighters" into the same system.
"The truth is that the world is ruled by oligarchies. The question is not whether there is an oligarchy, but which one is more tolerable - the national or the global. The national, no matter how problematic, is more accessible for communication than the global elites, who are completely disconnected from ordinary people," said Alexandrov.
In this context, Alexandrov does not see Rumen Radev as a charismatic leader capable of playing the role of a messiah.
And according to him, this is rather good news - Radev remains within the institutional framework, albeit with a clearly expressed fighting character, which will now find a more suitable field for expression.