Liberalization in the context of "Economic liberalization"

The People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB; Bulgarian: Народна република България, НРБ, romanized: Narodna republika Bŭlgariya, NRB; pronounced [nɐˈrɔdnɐ rɛˈpublikɐ bɐɫˈɡarijɐ]) was the Bulgarian state existed from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP; Bulgarian: Българска комунистическа партия (БКП)) together with its coalition partner, the Bulgarian Agrarian People's Union. Bulgaria was also part of Comecon as well as a member of the Warsaw Pact. The Bulgarian resistance movement during World War II deposed the Tsardom of Bulgaria administration in the Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944 which ended the country's alliance with the Axis powers and led to the People's Republic in 1946.

The BCP modeled its policies after those of the Soviet Union, transforming the country over the course of a decade from an agrarian peasant society into an industrialized socialist society. In the mid-1950s and after the death of Stalin, the party's hardliners lost influence and a period of social liberalization and stability followed under Todor Zhivkov. Varying degrees of conservative or liberal influence followed. After a new energy and transportation infrastructure was constructed, by 1960 manufacturing became the dominant sector of the economy and Bulgaria became a major exporter of household goods and later of computer technologies, earning it the nickname of "Silicon Valley of the Eastern Bloc". The country's relatively high productivity levels and high scores on social development rankings made it a model for other socialist countries' administrative policies.

Trade barriers are government-induced restrictions on international trade. Most trade barriers work on the same principle: the imposition of some sort of cost (money, time, bureaucracy, quota) on trade that alters the price or availability of the traded products. Barriers take the form of tariffs (which impose a financial burden on imports) and non-tariff barriers to trade (which uses other overt and covert means to restrict imports and occasionally exports). Trade barriers have been criticized for their negative impacts on consumers and their unequal applications to developing countries.

The use of trade barriers has shifted throughout history. Protectionist policies were commonplace in the mercantilist era, but a combination of industrialization and liberalization led to a shift towards free trade in the mid-to-late 19th century. The interwar period led to a regression back to protectionism, but post-WWII there was a near-universal commitment to multilateralism and the creation of international organizations that led to lower tariffs and decreased protectionism. While organizations like the World Trade Organization still provide an avenue for trade negotiations, in recent times there has been a shift away from trade openness and towards plurilateral agreements and regionalism.

Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (/ˈzoʊlə/, also US: /zoʊˈlɑː/; French: [emil zɔla]; 2 April 1840 – 29 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism. He was a major figure in the political liberalization of France and in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus, which is encapsulated in his renowned newspaper opinion headlined J'Accuse...!  Zola was nominated for the first and second Nobel Prizes in Literature in 1901 and 1902.

The De-Stalinization in Romania was a process of removing Stalinist policies and Stalin's cult of personality between 1956 and 1965. Implemented by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, it included the marginalization of Stalinists such as Ana Pauker and a large-scale amnesty of thousands of political prisoners. A number of political and cultural figures from the 19th century fight for independence were rehabilitated and writers formerly considered "bourgeois decadent" (like Tudor Arghezi) were allowed to publish again. It marked the beginning of a period of liberalization in Communist Romania, which ended in 1971 with the July Theses returning the country to the Totalitarian side which was renamed Ceauşism.

The Prague Spring (Czech: Pražské jaro; Slovak: Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ), and continued until 21 August 1968, when the Soviet Union and three other Warsaw Pact members (Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland) invaded the country to suppress the reforms.

The Prague Spring reforms were an attempt by Dubček to grant additional rights to the citizens of Czechoslovakia in an act of partial decentralization of the economy and democratization. The freedoms granted included a loosening of restrictions on the media, speech and travel. After national discussion of dividing the country into a federation of three republics, Bohemia, Moravia–Silesia and Slovakia, Dubček oversaw the decision to split into two, the Czech Socialist Republic and Slovak Socialist Republic. This dual federation was the only formal change that survived the invasion.

The July Theses (Romanian: Tezele din iulie) was a speech delivered by Nicolae Ceaușescu to the executive committee of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) on 6 July 1971.

The July Theses, officially named Propuneri de măsuri pentru îmbunătățirea activității politico-ideologice, de educare marxist-leninistă a membrilor de partid, a tuturor oamenilor muncii ("Proposed measures for the improvement of political-ideological activity, of the Marxist–Leninist education of Party members, of all working people"), was a quasi-Maoist speech influenced by Ceaușescu's recent state visits to the People's Republic of China and North Korea. The speech marked the beginning of a "mini-Cultural Revolution" in the Socialist Republic of Romania that saw a Neo-Stalinist reversal of the liberalization in the country since the early 1960s. The PCR launched an offensive against cultural autonomy in Romania and returned to the guidelines of socialist realism. Strict ideological conformity in the humanities and social sciences was demanded and non-compliant intellectuals were attacked. Competence and aesthetics were to be replaced by ideology, professionals were to be replaced by agitators, and culture was once again to become an instrument for communist propaganda. Romania's return to totalitarianism would be characterized by the extensive personality cult of Ceaușescu.