https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5128-4010
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Abstract
This article draws on a cross-disciplinary framework to analyse the 2018 ‘Velvet Revolution’ in Armenia and its success in implementing regime change through grassroots resistance. Utilising interview data, we suggest that the success of the Armenian revolution—that is, the relative postrevolutionary democratisation—can be partially explained by the combination of the global trend towards the digitisation of political discourse with the active political role played by the local ‘activist journalists’ within the context of a postsocialist state.
Acknowledgement
Research for this article was conducted while Juho Korhonen was based at both the Department of Sociology, Brown University, RI, USA, and the Department of Sociology, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Disclosure statement:
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 ‘Weak tie’ theory suggests that weaker social ties, in this case built and maintained via online social networks, contribute to political activism campaigns gaining traction; see Grabowicz et al. (Citation2012).
2 Despite the 2020 war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and opposition and army protests in 2021 calling for the resignation of the prime minister, the new regime retains its popular base and thus its formal legitimacy (Derluguian Citation2021). Prime Minister Pashinyan and his Civil Contract party (K'aghak'atsiakan paymanagir) remained in power following elections in June 2021, characterised by the OSCE as competitive and well managed (OSCE Citation2021).
3 See also Barnard (Citation2018b).
4 See, for example, Lührmann and Lindberg (Citation2019).
5 See also, Lehtisaari (Citation2015, p. 2).
6 Interview with Vartan, media multiprofessional, 13 December 2019.
7 Interview with Vartan, media multiprofessional, 13 December 2019.
8 Interview with Varduhi, freelance journalist, 13 December 2019.
9 Interview with Vartan, media multiprofessional, 13 December 2019.
10 Interview with Hasmik, journalist, 16 December 2019.
11 Interview with Aram, media expert, 14 December 2019.
12 Interview with Levon, media analyst, 16 December 2019.
13 Interview with Artur, editor, 13 December 2019.
14 Interview with Varduhi, freelance journalist, 13 December 2019.
15 Interview with Vartan, media multiprofessional, 13 December 2019.
16 See also Barnard (Citation2018b).
17 Interview with Aram, media expert, 14 December 2019.
18 Interview with Ruben, media scholar, 14 December 2019.
19 Interview with Lucine, activist and scholar, 15 December 2019.
20 Interview with Gayane, journalist, 16 December 2019.
21 Interview with Varduhi, freelance journalist, 13 December 2019.
22 Interview with Gadar, journalist, 14 December 2019.
23 Interview with Vazgen, former journalist, 18 December 2019.
24 Interview with Varduhi, freelance journalist, 13 December 2019.
25 Interview with Aram, media expert, 14 December 2019.
26 In Armenia, the internet emerged as a social and networking tool from 2008 onwards: ‘One could now see grandparents even in remote villages talking on Skype to their children’ (Derluguian & Hovhannisyan Citation2018, p. 458).
27 Interview with Aram, media expert, 14 December 2019.
28 Interview with Aram, media expert, 14 December 2019.
29 Interview with Vartan, media multiprofessional, 13 December 2019.
30 Interview with Gadar, journalist, 14 December 2019.
31 Interview with Garine, journalist, 15 December 2019.
32 Interview with Vartan, media multiprofessional, 13 December 2019.
33 Interview with Varduhi, freelance journalist, 13 December 2019.
34 Interview with Aram, media expert, 14 December 2019.
35 Interview with Heghine, journalist, 16 December 2019.
36 Interview with Vazgen, former journalist, 18 December 2019.
37 See for example Brubaker (Citation2017), Barnard (Citation2018b), Figenschou and Ihlebæk (Citation2019).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Juho Korhonen
Juho Korhonen, Institute for Advanced Studies and Department of Sociology, University of Turku, Finland. Email: [email protected]
Elena Rodina
Elena Rodina, Independent Researcher. Email: [email protected]