Introduction

The study of the reform of territorial and administrative division in Bulgaria has attracted the attention of both researchers and policy-makers. A review of European academic journals has yielded numerous studies on amalgamation reforms and their consequences, albeit mainly in Western Europe (Wollmann, 2008; Boedeltje, 2010; Hlepas, 2010; Vrangbak, 2010; Copus et al, 2017; Swianiewicz, 2018; Tavares, 2018; Garlatti et al, 2020). We have identified only a handful of papers dedicated to municipal splits. This trend can be attributed to two factors. Municipal splits are rarely the result of a targeted government policy. They rather result from bottom-up pressure from local political elites and communities. Therefore, scholars interested in the impact analysis of government policies concentrate on merger reforms rather than municipal divorces (Swianiewicz, 2020: 28). The second potential contributing factor is geographical location. We have observed that the counties in Western Europe generate greater scientific interest compared to their counterparts in South-East Europe. However, lately there has been stronger interest in municipal secession and more studies devoted to territorial reform in Romania, Slovenia and Hungary can be found (Swianiewicz, 2019; Stanuş, 2020; Dobos, 2021; Brajnic and Lavtar, 2021; Swianiewicz, 2021).

According to the sources analysed, the most relevant scientific terms that define the process of separation of municipalities, are de-amalgamation, de-merger, municipal divorces, secession and splits. The first two are the most common, occurring when the process is preceded by amalgamation (merger) reforms. The terms secession and splits are used in a neutral sense. In our research, we use tall terms interchangeably.

The assessment of the factors behind municipal divorces and the definition of the ‘type of divorce’ are of significant interest to researchers. Paweł Swianiewicz (2021) proposes a classification of municipal splits according to the relative size of two divorcing municipalities and group types of divorces as follows:

• • ‘Even-stevens’ – where two municipalities are relatively similar in terms of population size. Normally, this type of divorce occurs in rural areas with a local government unit consisting of two or more settlements (typically villages), and with two centres of gravitation of similar strength. In his calculations, this type is operationalized by the ‘abandoned municipality’ being not more than twice as big as the leaving partner.