The Bulgarian School of Politics was established in 2001. Our mission is to prepare a community of civic and political leaders, with an active role in the national, European and global political and public life, devoted to modern democratic values, based on pluralism, tolerance, and informed debate.
The School was founded by Dimitry Panitza and the Free and Democratic Bulgaria Foundation, the Political Academy for Central and Southeastern Europe, the New Bulgarian University and the Open Society Foundation – Sofia. The School is an independent non-governmental non-profit organization. It is accredited as a Center for Continuing Education at the New Bulgarian University and is also a founding member of the Council of Europe’s Network of Schools of Political Studies.
Since 2001, more than 300 Bulgarian and 150 foreign members of parliament, political party leaders, senior civil servants, and leaders from the non-governmental sector have been trained in the National and the Regional Programs of the School. The National Program targets politicians from the parliamentary represented parties in Bulgaria, civic leaders, elected officials from local, regional, and state administrations, journalists. The Regional Program is targeted at young political and civic leaders from the Balkan region: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia.
The two programs, which are designed and run as series of 3- and 5-day training seminars throughout the year, cover subjects such as political process, developing and implementing policies on national and regional level, European integration, European political process, media relations, political communication. Lecturers are prominent international and Bulgarian politicians, political analysts, academicians, experts, diplomats and renowned journalists. Training methods are interactive, based on small groups work, case studies, simulation games and debates.
Since its establishment, the School has developed a strong national alumni network. Currently, the Alumni Association includes 300 active members. In cooperation with the Alumni Association, the School organizes annual public discussions, conferences and debates on important political, social and economic issues.
The School has been supported financially by the Balkan Trust for Democracy, the Council of Europe, Freedom House, the Government of the Kingdom of Norway, the Government of the USA, the National Endowment for Democracy (Washington), the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs - MATRA Program, the Open Society Institute (Sofia), the Trust for Civil Society in CEE, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. In 2007, the Bulgarian School of Politics signed an Agreement with the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria for financial support of the National Program and related activities of the School.
