Abstract
Bulgaria can be counted among those states struggling with the process of rebuilding its political institutions and reshaping political attitudes to meet the needs of a modern, democratic state. Civilian control of the military is a subset of the larger process of democratic consolidation that involves at least two salient dimensions. The first is the degree of the military's contestation against new government policies pursued throughout the reform process. A second dimension to democratic consolidation is a function of the military prerogatives. Bulgaria's transition to democracy is partly an attempt to come to terms with its communist legacy. The Act provides the framework for reorganizing the armed forces away from armies and divisions and toward corps and brigades. Democratic consolidation will depend to a large degree on the state of the economy. Access to fresh credit from the West is imperative to underwrite the economic and structural reforms.