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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Futures Studies in the European Ex-socialist Countries FUTURES STUDIES IN BULGARIA Alexander Tomov PAST AND PRESENT OF FUTURES STUDIES IN BULGARIA Till 1990 there was ideologization of science, dominated by the governing Bulgarian Communistic Party, so there were no direct participants in the future research processes. In 1986 Alexander Tomov received an invitation and took part in a World Futures Studies Federation’s congress for the first time.

Since 1987 young Bulgarian scholars began to attend the Federation’s seminars. In 1990 for the first time, there was a meeting of the Bulgarian futurists. The idea for “21st Century” Foundation - Centre for Strategic Studies was born then together with the Bulgarian Future Society, which is in fact the foundation’s board of trustees and a group of younger scholars from the Sofia University and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

The 21st Century Foundation still continues making future research programmes. It is a collective member of the WFSF. During those years, for the first time, futuristic researches were made in the field of the national security.

In 1992 the Foundation developed a strategy for the development of the national security, in accord with the events on the Balkans, Yugoslavia’s disintegration and the occurrence of new countries, based on the concept for different degree of cooperation between the Balkan states in the area of defence.

The membership in NATO was looked as strategic, but stakes were laid on initial membership in other blocks and organizations for partnership, including the possibility for regional partnerships in various fields including the field of security as well, following the example of the Scandinavian countries. It was then that the development in line of the Pugwash movement began.

Till 1996, the 21st Century Foundation developed economy analyses, which viewed the development of Bulgarian economy in the context of the restructuring of the property. In Bulgaria there was not any interest in the futures studies under those years. Although the 21st Century Foundation and BFS developed various concepts in the social, the economic and the political field. A great number of these concepts were published in Bulgarian and international science magazines.

A great part of the concepts are synthesized in Alexander Tomov’s book (“The Fourth Civilization”).