Politics

The Communist KGB Was There to Stay

The Communist KGB Was There to Stay

Armenia’s transition in 1991 brought about a state with a blatant disregard for democracy. The current government should realize the importance of moving forward with a more systematic, effective and coordinated transitional justice platform.

Referendum Called

Referendum Called

Armenia’s National Assembly voted to call a constitutional referendum yesterday, which, if passed, would dismiss seven of the nine judges currently sitting on the Constitutional Court.

Blocking Courthouses: Tensions and Developments

A day after Armenia's second President Robert Kocharyan was released from pre-trial detention, PM Nikol Pashinyan called on the people of Armenia to block courthouses across the country in what turned out to be a bid to pressure judges to resign because of their alleged connections to the former regime and the people's mistrust towards the judiciary.

Post-Truth Armenia and the Media

Post-Truth Armenia and the Media

The fake news phenomenon is not uniquely Armenian. It’s a global challenge, but when the stakes are so high following the Velvet Revolution, journalists need to rediscover their mission and have an honest discourse about their role in the state of the media landscape.

New Armenia’s Parliamentarians

Armenia’s first post-Velvet Revolution parliament will hold its maiden session on January 14. Who are the men and women who will be serving the Armenian people as parliamentarians? EVN Report presents some interesting facts.

Can Direct Democracy Work in Armenia?

After coming to power following the Velvet Revolution, acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made references on several occasions about direct democracy, saying that the highest power belongs directly to the people. What is direct democracy and can it be applied in Armenia?

Was the Revolution Justified?

Was the Revolution Justified?

Was there just cause for the Velvet Revolution on substantive or procedural grounds? Dr. Simon Clarke applies a number of principles to the events that took place in Armenia earlier this year to determine whether the revolution was justified.

What Type of State Do We Want?

With snap parliamentary elections just a month away, there is a historic opportunity to set the foundations for a democratic state. While fair and free elections are critically important, they are only a first step. Armenia’s democratization must include making human rights the cornerstone and main guiding framework for policy making.

Քարոզչությունը և մարդու իրավունքների դիսկուրսը Հայաստանում

Propaganda and Human Rights Discourse in Armenia

Following the Velvet Revolution, Armenian society is faced with the challenge of reassessing its old values and creating a new value system and group identity, leaving the space open for manipulation and propaganda. Anna Pambukhchyan looks at the values and ideas often propagated as opinion-making mechanisms.

Corruption and Its Metastasizing Effect

Corruption and Its Metastasizing Effect

Professor Don Fuller examines how post-Soviet states have had difficulty in breaking normative behavior originating in Soviet times and how corruption is manifested in anti-democratic decision-making practices. He writes that Armenia’s new revolutionary government will be watched for evidence of competent innovation and justice.

Why the Corrupt are Terrified of Transitional Justice

Why the Corrupt are Terrified of Transitional Justice

Formulating the compatibility of transitional justice with Armenia's laws and constitutional statutes shouldn't be problematic, writes Nerses Kopalyan. However, the Pashinyan government, must go out of its way to make certain that the formation of any element of the instruments of transitional justice are fundamentally impartial, profoundly non-politicized, and unequivocally objective.

The Armenian Media Revolution

The Armenian Media Revolution

Without social media and the press, the “Velvet Revolution” could have evolved completely differently. To some extent, what took place was in fact a media revolution. And now, post-revolution, we can register that the media landscape in Armenia is no longer what it was until April of this year. Samvel Martirosyan discusses some of the qualitative and quantitative changes in the Armenian media.

Political Economy and Discontents

Political Economy and Discontents

Dr. Donald Fuller writes that there is an observable pattern that small state characteristics differ from larger states, particularly those that are not afflicted by the ‘resource curse.’ Institutions appear to be critical, trade can burnish the lack of natural resources and human capital offers a level of comparative advantage if carefully nurtured.

Pashinyan’s War

Pashinyan’s War

Nerses Kopalyan writes that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s declaration of war against the entrenched powers of the previous system is not simply a singular attack against corruption, but rather a broad multi-pronged strategy that envisions an ideational restructuring of Armenia’s political culture.

Sacral Knowledge and Occam’s Razor

Sacral Knowledge and Occam’s Razor

Suren Manukyan writes that those inside or standing beside the regime had created an alternate, false reality and not only convincingly persuaded the highest authorities of this, but also tried to convince the citizens of Armenia to believe that deception.

Նոր 1988 է արդյոք 2018-ը

Is 2018 the New 1988?

In this new piece, Mikayel Zolyan writes about the similarities and differences between the 1988 Karabakh Movement and the 2018 Velvet Revolution - what it meant for people then and now and lessons to be learned.

Children in the Hands of an Abusive Father: The Popular Movement, the RPA, and Armenia’s Constitutional Crisis

Children in the Hands of an Abusive Father: The Popular Movement, the RPA, and Armenia’s Constitutional Crisis

Armenia is facing its greatest challenge since independence. Nikol Pashinyan’s Velvet Revolution has left the ruling Republican Party facing a crisis of legitimacy. Nerses Kopalyan writes, “Pashinyan is not seeking to usurp the Constitutional legitimacy of Parliament, but rather, force the majority in Parliament to conform to the will of the popular movement.”

Freedom of Information is Jeopardized

Freedom of Information is Jeopardized

One of the most effective ways for authorities to control freedom of speech is to adopt and implement laws and other legal mechanisms that try to curb the work of the media. Shushan Doydoyan takes a looks at recent amendments in the RA law that have served this purpose.

The Last 48 Hours in Yerevan

The Last 48 Hours in Yerevan

As Armenia's parliament elected Serzh Sargsyan as Armenia's prime minister today and as tens of thousands gathered in Republic Square in protest - here is a look back on the events of the last 48 hours through the lens of photojournalist Eric Grigorian.

Civil Disobedience and Clashes in Yerevan

Civil Disobedience and Clashes in Yerevan

While parliament prepares to elect the country’s new prime minister on April 17, thousands of Armenians poured out into the streets of the capital, exercising acts of civil disobedience. Clashes with security forces led to dozens of injuries. A recap of the day’s events.

Armenia in Crisis Again?

Armenia in Crisis Again?

Demonstrators led by Nikol Pashinyan, leader of the Civil Contract party, have shut down a major square in Yerevan, paralyzing the downtown core of the capital to protest former President Serzh Sargsyan’s candidacy for the office of prime minister.

The Karabakh Movement and Azerbaijan

The Karabakh Movement and Azerbaijan

Tatevik Hayrapetyan writes that the Karabakh Movement was a catalyst for domestic developments in Azerbaijan. Unlike in Armenia, however, alternative forces like the Azerbaijani Popular Front in Azerbaijan, couldn’t find a way to collaborate with the local Communist Party. The issue of Karabakh and anti-Armenian propaganda was thereby used in their struggle against the Communist regime.

10 զոհ, 10 տարի, 0 պատասխանատու

Ten Victims, Ten Years, Zero Culpability

Ten years after the worst post-election clashes in the history of Armenia’s independent statehood that left ten people dead and hundreds injured, the wounds are still fresh and the pain raw. In this personal essay, Hamazasp Danielyan writes about the events leading up to March 1, 2008 and reflects on his personal transformation.

Armenia at the Center of State-Sponsored Cyber Attacks

A close look at cyber operations against Armenian state and non-state institutions, as well as individuals highlights a number of well known cases behind which are state-sponsored hacker groups or even state structures themselves. Samvel Martirosyan writes about how Armenia, in recent years, has become a subject of interest in almost all major cyber investigations.

Iran: What Lies Beneath

Iran: What Lies Beneath

Since 1997 and the coming to power of reformists in Iran, Western countries have refused to see anything else in Iran other than the symbiosis of the so-called reformers and hardliners within the regime. Sohrab Mobasheri, an Iranian political activist and journalist in exile explains: "The writings on the wall were present...Anybody who was willing to do so could see the signs..."

The Question of Iranian Power-Sharing

Iran was rocked by a number of protests last week that caught many by surprise. Loosineh Markarian writes that while many have been focused on the interrelation of the elite and the protestors, recent developments in inter-elite relations could be the significant factor informing the recent outburst.

Armenia and the EU: A Delicate Balancing Act

The new Armenia-EU agreement can be considered a milestone in the history of modern Armenia and in Armenia-EU relations but how does it change the context of Armenia-Russia relations? And what does it mean for Armenia- from the future of the Nuclear Power Plant to rebranding the Armenian cognac?

Development of Science or Social Justice? The Student Protests and What is at Stake

There are protests on the streets of Yerevan again. This time it is a student protest against a controversial bill on mandatory military service. One of the most powerful student protest movements in Armenia was in 2004 and ironically, some participants of these earlier protests are today themselves pushing for the abolishment of draft deferment for university students from ARP ranks.

Armenia’s European Path: What to Expect?

Armenia’s European Path: What to Expect?

Armenia is set to sign a new accord with the European Union in November of this year. Hailed as a new step forward in bilateral relations, the sides remain cautiously optimistic that the signing will go ahead as planned. EVN Report’s new contributor Kristine Gasparyan takes a look back at EU-Armenia relations over the last several years.

Archives and Institutions of the First Republic

Archives and Institutions of the First Republic

In this article, Varak Ketsemanian reflects on the possibilities of integrating the ARF archives on the First Republic into the larger political debate. Thus, he argues for the need of a critical and constructive re-assessment of this historical period in the nation's recent history, as a way to contribute to a long-term political convergence.

Benedikt van den Boom

Putting an End to Proxy Wars

For years, Armenia and Azerbaijan have hijacked debates in the Council of Europe, while their European colleagues roll their eyes and get on with business. Benedikt van den Boom, a political analyst, makes the case for a constructive Armenian strategy at the Council of Europe, which opens the way for achieving Armenia’s political objectives.

Independence Generation: Perceptions of Family and Marriage

There is little doubt that in the collective consciousness of the Armenian nation, the family is one of the most important institutions. But how does this notion manifest itself in a modern societal setting, impact gender roles and individual decision-making? Maria Titizian takes a look at the findings of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation's Independence Generation Youth Study - 2016.

Fact Checking Serzh Sargsyan`s Interview

In a July 16 interview, President Serzh Sargsyan spoke about issues of national security, including the state of the economy. The president also remarked on some of his statements in the past that had stirred controversy in the country. Armen Grigoryan compares numbers to President Sargsyan's statements.

The “Discursive Turn” of Armenian Politics

In this new essay for EVN Report, Varak Ketsemanian argues that one of the reasons Armenians have failed to come up with a palatable “national brand” lies in the absence of common political premises (beyond the Genocide and Artsakh) upon which collaborative platforms may be created in the Diaspora, but more importantly, in the Republic of Armenia.

The Families of Sari Tagh

The Families of Sari Tagh

Ten residents of Sari Tagh, a neighborhood in the Erebuni district in Yerevan where a group of armed men calling themselves the Daredevils of Sassoun seized a police station last summer, continue to remain in pre-trial detention after confrontation with security forces 10 months ago. Their families are now fighting for their release.

To Be Like Armenia

To Be Like Armenia

What does it mean “to be like Armenia?” In this personal essay, Maria Titizian tries to find the answers to that question following the awards ceremony for the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. “To be like us means having few choices and limited opportunities. To be like us means being subjected to genocide a century ago and today being subjected to the interests and whims of global powers.”maria

Centennial Minus One

In exactly one year from now, the Armenian nation will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of an independent Armenian republic during the final months of the First World War. In a special report, Professor Ara Sanjian of the University of Michigan-Dearborn writes about the significance of May 28 in modern Armenian history and its controversial trajectory in the Diaspora.

Erdoğan Victory is a Defeat for Turkey

Erdoğan Victory is a Defeat for Turkey

On April 16, 2017, Turkish citizens voted in a referendum that would give sweeping new powers to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. With almost 99 percent of the ballots counted, Erdogan has claimed victory. What will this mean for Turkey's democracy in the coming years? Vahram Ter-Matevosyan explains.

Who is Protecting the Rights of Workers?

Who is Protecting the Rights of Workers?

A member of parliament for the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and owner of the SAS Supermarket chain, Artak Sargsyan is at the heart of a new scandal. In an audio recording, a representative of Sargsyan speaks to SAS employees where he threatens to fire all those who do not present lists of potential voters for the RPA.

Armenia: A Nation in Transit

Armenia: A Nation in Transit

The 2017 "Nations in Transit: The False Promise of Populism" a project of Freedom House was released yesterday. Among the 29 former communist countries included in this report, Armenia is ranked 21st and considered to be Semi-Consolidated Authoritarian Regime.

Post-Election Armenia

Post-Election Armenia

Political pundits will analyze the April 2 Parliamentary Elections for weeks and months to come. The results, however, were not surprising. What are the programs and policies that need to be implemented to prepare the country for the next election cycle?

The Politics of Charity

The Politics of Charity

The absence of political and ideological discourse in Armenian election campaigns is not unusual per se, but this time around with nine political parties and blocs running for a minimum of 101 seats, it seems the promises aren’t about policy positions.

Fernando Casal Bértoa

Quo Vadis, Armenia?

With the stroke of a pen on one of nine ballots, Armenians will be heading to the polls to elect the party, or bloc of parties, that will govern the country for the next four years and, indirectly, also the person who will become president until 2025.

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