Reconstructing Eclecticism: Bulgarian Economic Thought in the Ottoman Empire in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

This article deals with the explanation and reconstruction of the theoretical and methodological eclecticism typical of Bulgarian economic and social thought. This eclecticism brings together extremely opposite and mutually exclusive theoretical and methodological elements such as classical liberalism, physiocracy and mercantilism, protectionism, economic nationalism, Orthodox ethics, common sense, and a contradiction between economic policy objectives and means, among others. For this reason it is usually considered as immature economic thinking that is very hard to get ahold of within a logical framework. We propose an original theoretical reconstruction of eclecticism in Bulgarian economic and social thought from the Ottoman period by trying to bring its main components into a whole. Within this model we identify two main objectives of the economic studies from the period (national identity within the wider process of modernization and civilization), the main vehicles (liberalism, protectionism and economic nationalism, ethical principles, and sound reasoning), and two purely methodological features, the strong presence of French authors (and German to some extent) as well as extreme methodological diversity. The reconstruction of eclecticism is done in a comparative perspective with other European countries and regions.