Ethnicity and politics in Bulgaria and Israel

Bulgaria and Israel are two small countries with a surprising amount in common. Both are ethnically distinct from their neighbours; both have sizeable minority populations bearing a cultural affinity with a large and potentially threatening neighbour; both have internal ethnic schisms which are reinforced by a considerable degree of occupational and residential segregation, and both countries are undergoing important changes as a result of the break-up of the Soviet Bloc and the realignment of international politics.