Placement of Romanian and Bulgarian Embassies: EU Aspirations and Communist Legacy

Abstract

Romania and Bulgaria have some undeniable political and social similarities and one would also expect some similarities in their foreign policies. Both countries will soon join the EU, were governed by Communist regimes for decades, and have majority Orthodox Christian populations. In this analysis, the authors investigate the logic by which Romania and Bulgaria allocate their embassies abroad. The findings of logistical regressions on the placement of embassies for 168 countries in the world illustrate that Romania and Bulgaria allocate their embassies on a very different basis. While Bulgaria tends to favor countries with a Communist legacy, powerful countries, and countries with large Orthodox populations, Romania tends merely to favor EU member states and powerful countries.

Keywords: foreign policy, embassy location, Bulgaria, Romania