Democracy - Armenia

Small parties in Armenia face numerous challenges, including limited resources, a narrow economic base, unequal access to media, a personalist party tradition, and barriers to political inclusion. Despite these obstacles, they can still play a vital role in post-election coalitions and contribute to the development of democratic and inclusive governance.

Historian and former politician Mikayel Zolyan talks about what has changed in Armenia since 2018. On the one hand, the reform agenda lags behind the expectations of the society. At the same time, Armenia has gone through a dramatic transformation.

After Armenia's defeat in the war in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, foreign and security policy developments in the small South Caucasian republic are happening at an unprecedented pace. Looking to the West for additional security guarantees, Armenia has inevitably aroused the displeasure of its strategic security partner, Russia. It is still difficult to assess what consequences this will have.

Judicial reforms have been high on the new democratic reforms’ agenda of Armenia since the 2018 Revolution as the low level of trust in the judiciary was one of the reasons behind the Velvet Revolution. 

The war, the repressed civil society, the retaliatory sanctions applied by the Western countries, the fear of general military mobilization were all factors that forced several hundred thousand Russians into migration. Why did some of the relocates choose Armenia as a destination and how can this migration affect the democratization processes in the country? Read in Russian

The article is a detailed historical overview of the border issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the beginning of the 20th century. The author of this article analyzes the roots and the development of the demarcation process.

As stated by a number of political and public figures, there is a concern about the possibility of a civil war.

In the case of Armenia, as much elsewhere in the world, refugees are amongst the vulnerable populations affected by the pandemic and the economic and social hardships accompanying it.