Tag: democratic

The recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the U.S. stemmed from its own interests. Other allied powers are considering following suit. Will Armenia be able to take advantage of this shift in global geopolitics?

July 5 marks Constitution Day in Armenia. Constitutional reform is still on the mind of the re-elected Prime Minister, whose approach to forming a constitutional package has so far greatly resembled that of his predecessors. But there are more participatory models that could be adopted.

Political efficacy has been replaced with a wave of voter alienation among a large percentage of Armenia’s electorate. With snap parliamentary elections set for June 20, these issues will be front and center.

Instead of playing semantics, PM Nikol Pashinyan should have taken responsibility for the war's disastrous outcome and resigned. A golden opportunity to push the democratic movement forward was squandered.

Armenia’s President expressed his desire to re-introduce direct presidential elections to Armenia. Doing so could place a stumbling block in the way of Armenia’s democratic consolidation.

The Caucasus Barometer survey conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the country, reveals that the overall mood of the Armenian public was optimistic.

Alen Shadunts writes that being democratic should not be a party ideology; democracy is a pre-existing bedrock condition, not an agenda for a particular government.

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?

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.

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 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.