From ‘Sustainability’ Frame To ‘Nationalist’ Master Frame: The Case with the Bulgarian Anti and Pro Nuclear Social Movements-Economic and Political Implications

Translation is power. As agents of power experienced translators can create powerful action frames that challenge the established routines. Iindividual beliefs that are sanctioned through ‘mutual awareness’ evolve into ‘collective beliefs’. The latter then are further shaped by properly translated frames to emerge as a social force. In this research paper, I explore how the collective action frames are restructured, specifically the role of the printed and electronic media in shaping the public discourse. The research is supported by the Bulgarian nuclear case, where an antinuclear collective action frame for less than ten years, was restructured into ‘national pride’ pro-nuclear frame through the translation of the media and what were the economic and political implications of such development. Structure of the Paper: In the first section of the paper, I explore in detail how global collective action frames develop and the three aspects involved in this processs-illegitimate inequality, identity and agency. Then I am interested what are the common beliefs that shape the collective identity of antinuclear movements and what is their collective action frame. Then briefly the Bulgarian case is introduced, wher by late 1980’s the frame over nuclear issues was overlapping with the global ‘sustainable frame’ that prevailed in most Western societies by that time. In the second section I explore what is what is the collective frame over the nuclear issues in the late 90’s and how the newly-emerged ‘national pride’ frame is a classical example for restructuring of a collective action frame. In the third section I explore the agents of the reframing process and more closely the role of the media in shaping the collective beliefs. In the final part I elaborate on the question how the process of mass media’s translation in the Bulgarian case was crucial for the complete shift of the frame from ‘sustainability’ to ‘national pride’. I conclude with the question of authorities, losing their legitimacy, because of their lack of creating counterframes.