Territorial Dimensions of Governance Sustainability – The Case of Bulgarian Agriculture

This article suggests a holistic framework for assessing the “forth” governance pillar of agrarian sustainability in Bulgaria. The newly elaborated approach is “tested” in a large-scale study for assessing the governance sustainability at national, territorial and farms levels. Multiple Principles, multi-criteria and multi-indicators assessment indicates that the Overall Governance Sustainability of Bulgarian agriculture is at a “Good” but very close to the “Satisfactory” level. Besides, there is a considerable differentiation in the level of Integral Governance sustainability of different agro-regions and farming systems in the country. Furthermore, the individual indicators with the highest and lowest sustainability values determine the “critical” factors enhancing and deterring the particular and integral Governance sustainability of national, territorial and farming systems of Bulgarian agriculture.