Self-Determined Citizens? New Forms of Civic Activism and Citizenship in Armenia

Abstract

This article examines the recent emergence and growth of grassroots social movements in Armenia which are locally known as ‘civic initiatives’. It considers what their emergence tells us about the development of civil society and the changing understandings and practices of citizenship in Armenia in the post-Soviet period. It analyses why civic initiatives explicitly reject and distance themselves from formal, professionalised NGOs and what new models of civic activism and citizenship they have introduced. It argues that civic initiatives embrace a more political understanding of civil society than that which was introduced by Western donors in the 1990s.

Notes

The author would like to thank Evelina Gyulkhandanyan, Sona Manusyan, Arpy Manusyan and Anna Zhamakochyan for their support and assistance with the research in Armenia. This research was made possible through funding from the Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (grant number 120554) and the Robert Bosch Foundation (grant number12.5.2400.0354.0). The views expressed are the author's own and do not in any way represent the views or the official position or policy of the aforementioned foundations.

¹ The term ‘transition’ has been problematised by various scholars including Michael Buroway and Katherine Verdery (Burawoy 1999) who argue that ‘transition’ implies an evolutionary development that has a single, well defined objective and trajectory. While I agree with this assessment, I have chosen to use the term ‘transition’ for the sake of simplicity and because the term continues to be applied to the region by a number of international organisations including the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

² ‘STOP Destroying Gudiashvili Square’, Facebook community group, created in 2011, available at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/STOP-Destroying-Gudiashvili-Square/299005786807819, accessed 7 February 2013.

³ The focus groups were conducted with the assistance of the Socioscope Societal Research and Consultancy Center NGO. Together we selected the regions and communities and decided on the age range of the participants. The age ranges indicate which of the focus groups the participants were from. The participants in the focus groups were selected by the Socioscope team based on their contacts in the local communities.

⁴ New Public Management refers to the policies under which non-profit organisations, such as NGOs, came to play a greater role in the delivery and design of public services. Anheier argues that New Public Management, with its emphasis on non-profits as service providers and instruments of privatisation ‘casts non-profit organisations essentially in a neoliberal role’ (Anheier 2004, p. 4).

⁵ The concept of ‘associationalism’ is linked to the work of de Tocqueville and it stresses the importance of volunteerism and civic participation for democracy. In the late twentieth century de Tocqueville's ideas influenced a number of scholars including Robert Putnam (1994, 2000). Putnam's work on civic associationalism in Italy (1994) and the United States (2000) identifies social capital as emanating from the networks of civic engagement and he argues that a strong civil society is what makes democratic institutions work.

⁶ ‘Risks and Opportunities for the NGO Sector in Armenia Yerevan’, Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center, 2011, available at: http://transparency.am/files/publications/NED_publication_2.pdf, accessed 13 July 2015.

⁷ ‘Caucasus Barometer’, Caucasus Research Resource Centre, Yerevan, 2010.

⁸ The verb ‘veraimastavorel’, which does not translate well into English, literally means ‘to give a new meaning and a new interpretation’ to something (Baratyan et al. 2002, p. 499).

⁹ ‘Armenia’, Nations in Transit 2013, Freedom House, available at: https://freedomhouse.org/report/nations-transit/2013/armenia#.VaZpOk1OW72, accessed 15 July 2015.

¹⁰ ‘Social Snapshot and Poverty in Armenia, 2012’, National Statistical Service of Armenia, Yerevan, available at: http://www.armstat.am/en/?nid = 80&id = 1397, accessed 25 April 2012.

¹¹ ‘Overview of Corruption and Anti-Corruption in Armenia’ [Online], Transparency International, 23 August 2013, available at: http://www.transparency.org/whatwedo/answer/overview_of_corruption_and_anti_corruption_in_armenia, accessed 2 July 2014.

¹² Tigran Sargsyan (no relation to President Serzh Sargsyan) resigned from office on 3 April 2014 without citing a specific reason.

¹³ Interview with Gevork, civic activist, Yerevan, 13 October 2012.

¹⁴ Interview with Rosa, civic activist, Yerevan, 11 October 2012.

¹⁵ ‘Analysis: Save Teghut Civic Initiative’, Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, 6 March 2013, available at: http://organize-now.am/en/2013/03/06/859/, accessed 19 April 2013.

¹⁶ ‘Analyses: Mashtots Park Civic Struggle UNFINISHED’, Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, 19 February 2013, available at: http://organize-now.am/en/2013/02/19/853/, accessed 22 April 2013.

¹⁷ ‘Residents’ here refers to the diaspora Armenians who have repatriated to Armenia but who do not hold Armenian citizenship.

¹⁸ ‘Analyses: Mashtots Park Civic Struggle UNFINISHED’, Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, 19 February 2013, available at: http://organize-now.am/en/2013/02/19/853/, accessed 22 April 2013.

¹⁹ Skype interview with Hayk, human rights NGO employee, Yerevan, 27 July 2013.

²⁰ Interview with Rosa, civic activist, Yerevan, 11 October 2012.

²¹ Interview with Anzhela, environmental NGO employee, Yerevan, 2 May 2012.

²² Interview with Martiros, environmental NGO employee, Yerevan, 14 October 2012.

²³ Skype interview with Suren, civic activist, Yerevan, 11 January 2013.

²⁴ Skype interview with Narine, human rights NGO employee and civic activist, Yerevan, 5 April 2013.

²⁵ Skype interview with Erik, civic activist, Yerevan, 6 August 2013.

²⁶ Interview with Gevork, civic activist, Yerevan, 13 October 2012.

²⁷ Menk enk ays kakhaki deruh, pamphlet printed and distributed by the civic initiative We are the Owners of this City, 2013, Yerevan.

²⁸ Menk enk ays kakhaki deruh, pamphlet printed and distributed by the civic initiative We are the Owners of this City, 2013, Yerevan.

²⁹ Interview with Anush, civic activist, Yerevan, 18 September 2011.

³⁰ Focus group participant, female, 18–30, city of Alaverdi.

³¹ Focus group participant, female, 36 and above, Yerevan.

³² Focus group participant, female, 18–35, Yerevan.

³³ ‘Emigration from Armenia Grows’, News.am, 14 February 2013, available at: http://news.am/eng/news/140187.html, accessed 13 July 2015; ‘UN Report Warns of “New Wave” of Emigration from Armenia’, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 11 May 2010, available at: http://www.rferl.org/content/UN_Report_Warns_Of_New_Wave_Of_Emigration_From_Armenia/2039164.html, accessed 25 April 2013.

³⁴ Interview with Davit, human rights NGO employee, Yerevan, 9 May 2012.

³⁵ Interview with Sirvart, environmental NGO employee, Yerevan, 10 October 2012.

³⁶ Skype interview with Shant, academic, Washington DC, 25 November 2012.

³⁷ Skype interview with Raffi, a diaspora-based political party member, New York, 23 November 2012.

³⁸ Skype interview with Narine, human rights NGO employee, Yerevan, 5 April 2013.

³⁹ Interview with Gayane, human rights NGO employee, Yerevan, 11 May 2012.

⁴⁰ Skype interview with Raffi, a diaspora-based political party member, New York, 23 November 2012.

⁴¹ ‘Universal Rights Awards Ceremony’, Embassy of the United States, 4 June 2012, available at: http://armenia.usembassy.gov/news060412.html, accessed 13 July 2015.

⁴² ‘Statement: On the Occasion of the Conference “Responsible Mining in Armenia: Opportunities and Challenges”’, Save Teghut Civic Initiative, 24 March 2014, available at: http://alter-conference.teghut.am/press-release/, accessed 4 April 2014.

⁴³ Focus group with activists, Yerevan, 9 October 2012.

⁴⁴ Interview with Sirvart, environmental NGO employee, Yerevan, 10 October 2012.