02 December 2016
PSIA Guest Lecture
John B. Judis, American journalist, Senior writer at The National Journal, Editor-at-large at Talking Points Memo
The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics
What’s happening in global politics, and is there a thread that ties it all together? As if overnight, many Democrats revolted and passionately backed a socialist named Bernie Sanders; the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, in a stunning rebuke; the vituperative billionaire Donald Trump became the presidential nominee of the Republican Party; and a slew of rebellious parties continued to win election after election in countries like Switzerland, Norway, Italy, Austria, and Greece.
22 October 2016
PSIA Ambassadorial Lecture Series
Foreign Minister of Nagorno Karabakh Republic
Foreign Policy Challenges & Opportunities
A shaky peace along the Line of Contact has been restored between the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan following an unprecedented and unprovoked escalation in first days of April, 2016. While mediators toiled hard to bring back the ceasefire regime and proceed to a more robust peace process in Vienna and St Petersburg in May and June, the people of the region seem to be as far from peace as they have been before the latest aggression.
27 June 2016
Panel Discussion moderated by AUA Professor Gregory Areshian
Parallels Between Armenia And Israel: Reflections on the Current Discourse in Armenia.
Should Armenia Be Like Israel, If Yes, Then How? And What Does It Mean to Be Like Israel?
It has become a popular discourse in Armenia via various media outlets and everyday conversations claiming that Armenia should follow the model of Israel. The discussion is aimed to contribute the common discourse (stated above) with a critical analysis on whether these parallels can be drawn, and examine the possibilities of how Armenians can follow the Israeli model in various ways.
About the panelists:
Nancy Kricorian – Novelist, poet, and social justice activist. Serves on the Executive Committee of the Armenia Tree Project. Member of the PEN American Center.
Markar Melkonian – Philosophy professor and a non-fiction writer. Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Alvina Hovhannisyan – Assistant professor at the Yerevan State University. PhD. in Arabic philology from Yerevan State University.
Harutyun Marutyan – Leading research fellow at National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. Visiting professor of anthropology at the Yerevan State University.
01 March 2016
Guest Lecture: Looking at an International Financial Institution Through a Political Economy Lens:
How Development Banks Function and What Role – if any? – Political Economy Plays in Their Mission, Mandate, and Operations
Guest Speaker: Laura E. Bailey, Armenia Country Manager, World Bank
The international financial institutions that support economic development – global ones like the World Bank as well as regional banks like ADB, EIB, EDB/EFSD, EBRD, KfW – have missions like “reduce poverty” and “support economic growth” that are apolitical, but they exist in a world of nation-states where politics, or at least political economy, is central. Our discussion will use the example of one of these development banks – The World Bank – to explore the intersection of non-political economic development goals and global political dynamics. Question of interest may include: Who owns the world bank? How does the WB establish and apply factors and criteria to make decisions? How does politics play in the decision-making process? Does the recipient country’s performance matter and to what extent? Does the country’s institutional capacity make a difference?
18 February 2016
Guest Lecture: Community Consolidation and Local Democracy: Reform in Armenia and European Experience
Guest Speakers
Pawel Swianiewicz, Professor, Head of Department of Local Development and Policy, Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, Adviser to the President of Poland
Tony Levitas, Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University
Armenia is in the midst of ambitious and far-going local government reform. In 2015 Government of Armenia started territorial administrative reform (TARA), assuming consolidation of small and financially weak communities into larger units. During local referenda in May 2015, population of 22 communities in three consolidating clusters expressed willingness to merge their municipalities. Last Sunday voters in three consolidated communities have elected their mayors and councils. The reform will roll over to about 11 new consolidation clusters around the country. After this pilot phase of the reform is accomplished, government will undertake the final phase of the reform in the next years. Along with consolidation of communities it is planned to expand the local government powers, delegating them with new competencies. Having in mind the scope of the reform and possible impact on many other sectors of public administration and economy, it is extremely important to consider the experience of other countries, which already passed this path.
27 May 2015
Book presentation “After 100 years…”
Boris Murazi, President of the Sinjar Yezidi National Union
The book describes current events in Iraq and Genocide by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria towards Iraqi minorities.
04 May 2015
NATO and the Caucasus: Engagement in a Changing Security Environment
William Lahue, Head, NATO Liaison Office Georgia, NATO Liaison Officer, South Caucasus Region
The rapid deterioration of the international security environment over the past year, particularly due to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, has forced NATO and the Allies to reassess its policies and capabilities, but also its partnerships. The Wales Summit declaration outlined the first concrete steps that NATO is taking to meet its new security challenges, some of which will impact partners in the Caucasus region.
20 April 2015
Characteristics of the Armenian National Identity
Student Debate, V. Sargsyan Military Institute
Armenian politics has to a large extent developed within national contexts, and as a result, ‘national identity’ is often (at least partly) equated with ‘national’ traditions. The debate focuses on the characteristics of the Armenian identity. Considering that since Armenia’s independence, openness and social mobility have given rise to increased knowledge, political participation, improved awareness of world issues, but also greater migration outflows, is the ‘Armenian identity’ regressing? On the flip side, has the Karabakh War strengthened the ‘Armenian identity’? Does the continuing conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia impact the ‘Armenian identity’?
23 February 2015
European Forum Alpbach
Marine Sargsyan, Alpbach Armenia Initiative Group, President
Every year since 1945 the European Forum Alpbach has hosted a two-week annual conference. This year the general topic of the Forum is “InEquality”. This topic is highly controversial – that is why hundreds of participants with different backgrounds will gather in Alpbach this summer to explore and discuss the many facets of “InEquality”. The speaker gives a presentation about the Forum, scholarship, participation requirements, application procedure and selection criteria.