Issue 5, 2007

The changes in the external environment of agribusiness bring out the adaptation of the agriculture in Bulgaria towards them. This can be successfully completed with outrunning strategic decisions at national level followed by decisions of the business structures. For that purpose corresponding scientific research is necessary which lays the foundations of respective strategies.
Analysis of the environment of agribusiness and the expected changes in it allows the forecasting of the directions in which research should be conducted - globalization, integration and sustainable development of agriculture; economic and social consequences of the implementation of the Common agriculture policy of the EU.
The successful conduction of research on specific problems in the abovementioned directions demands another policy in organization, financing and staff providing of scientific research.

Analysed is the profile of return migrants, their experience and income abroad, their satisfaction and their adjustments for repeated (cyclic) migration. The paper focuses on the "stay or leave again" dilemma of Bulgarian return migrants. Data from a unique representative survey among households and their members who had been abroad during the period 2001-2005 is utilized. Two binary regression models are estimated for this purpose. The independent variables reflect the socio-demographic profile and foreign experience of return migrants. Satisfaction is related to age, duration of the stay abroad, qualified job under official contract, and employment in services. The leave again question has a clear positive answer for return migrants satisfied with their foreign experience. However, Bulgarian labor market faces a serious deficit in a range of professions which is supported by the finding that educational level acts as a hold-up factor regarding return migrants' likelihood to leave again.

Examined are main theoretical concepts which explain the genesis, nature and evolution of the ideas on flexible employment. Its origin is connected to the influence of marketeering factors and its development and spread are grounded on the impact of structural factors and transformations of the employment systems. Special consideration is taken into two concepts: the deregulation of the labour market and its reflection on the institutional regulations of the conditions of employment and the concept of "flexicurity", "flexibility and assurance of employment" which attempts to combine flexibility of workplace and assurance of employment. In other words the social security is shifting from workplace protection towards employment protection. Using as background the adduced theoretical views and concepts an attempt is made to outline the theoretical consistency of the problem, its practical significance, underlining the deep changes and challenges which the processes of flexibility address towards the employment systems.

The unpaid labour is examined form negative and positive point of view. On one hand revealed are the effects of this kind of labour which generate poverty and some recommendations are made for their restriction. No the other hand attention is directed to its positive effects as a further regulator of market and administrative mechanisms for economic and social process management. Presented are measurements and valuations of unpaid labour which should aid its social and legal recognition with the purpose to bring the occupied with it out of the group of economic inactive persons and to create conditions for their social securitization. Given are wider measurements of the unpaid home labour because of its big relative share in the structure of unpaid labour and its serious contribution to the increase of poverty amongst women with children and work capable persons with great family (home) duties who have restricted access to the labour market due to them.

Researched and evaluated are the continuity and succession of structural changes. Analysed is the purposed by G. Minassian coefficient of direction of structural dynamics. The latter is brought to a mode which allows for it to be calculated directly from the relative shares of the partitions of the structures and is rated in the interval from -1 to +1 (as a special case of the coefficient of linear correlation Pirson-Brave). Several applications of this coefficient are examined.

Analysed is the connection between the different disciplines in social sciences - especially economics, politic science, sociology and law. It is determined that the separate disciplines are inwards oriented and rarely use the results of other social sciences.
Five examples of interdisciplinary approaches are examined -rational choice theory, game theory, multivariable analysis of the long-term series of national statistics, use of "soft" data, "systematic paradigm".
Also the desired directions for change are shown regarding the elimination of borders that divide the disciplines.

The transition period's challenges after Bulgarian integration to the European Union show the necessity for our country to make a strategic choice, which should provide enough space for deploying the reform process, but which should keep the cost of changes within acceptable social limits. The reform policy gives the opportunity for establishing a new industrial relations system based on tripartism and collective bargaining as a part of democratization process of society and strengthening the Bulgarian identity. As the reforms are in their final stage and the Bulgarian membership in the European Union is a fact, the process of democracy enters into a new phase, which will also require from trade unions, employers, and employees a new strategic choice.