Tag: Nerses Kopalyan

June 19, 2024
Of Reactionaries, Clerics and Protests

Of Reactionaries, Clerics and Protests

The institutional mechanisms, economic arrangements, and social power networks that Catholicos Garegin II constructed and relied on are incompatible with Armenia’s democratic project and the values of the Church as a sacred institution, writes Nerses Kopalyan.

May 3, 2024

EVN Security Report: April 2024

In order for Armenia to mitigate, anticipate, and deter Azerbaijan's threats and potential attacks, it must understand and qualify the mechanisms that define the Aliyev regime’s propensity for bellicosity, and gauge its “coercive credibility”.

April 5, 2024
EVN Security Report: March 2024

EVN Security Report: March 2024

In Armenia, establishing a Western pivot was crucial to achieve an independent foreign policy and enhance security capabilities, paving the way for diversification in foreign and security relations. This process involves pivoting first, diversifying, and only then adopting hedging strategies.

February 2, 2024
EVN Security Report: January 2024

EVN Security Report: January 2024

Noting the instrumentalization of warfare as the dominant and preferred strategic tool of the Aliyev regime, a rationalist explanation of war is introduced in this month's security briefing to address the causal mechanisms shaping Aliyev’s incentives for being conflict-prone.

January 5, 2024
EVN Security Report: December 2023

EVN Security Report: December 2023

An institutional theory of security is necessary for Armenia so that it escapes institutional underdevelopment and the culture of inchoate security thinking inherited from the Soviet legacy, writes Nerses Kopalyan for the December 2023 security report.

March 31, 2023
EVN Security Report: March 2023

EVN Security Report: March 2023

The region’s security arrangement remains in flux as Azerbaijan amplified its rhetorical aggression and engaged in expansive troop movements and build-up in border areas. Greater Western involvement has deepened the alliance between Azerbaijan and Russia. While Moscow and Baku have established a united front against the West’s presence in the region, Armenia has proceeded to reconfigure its strategic interests, advancing its democracy narrative, while aligning its preferences to the resolution of the conflict with the Western-led stabilization efforts.

January 31, 2023
Hard Power and Its Limits

Hard Power and Its Limits

Hard power is as intrinsic to political society as politics itself. While in modern times state behavior is qualified through a fusion of hard and soft power, the traditional canon of international relations has been defined by hard power, albeit with limits.