Washington Post: The nonviolent people power of Armenians forced  Sargsyan to resign 

ArmInfo.  In 2018 Armenia has experienced a dramatic turnaround, collumnist at Washington Post Frida Ghitis expressed such an opinion. 

The author of the article notes that 2018 has been a disastrous year  for democracy.  Authoritarian leaders have made decisive moves to  tighten their grip on power by eroding practices indispensable to a  functioning democracy, such as the rule of law and a free press, and  blithely ignoring or violently suppressing mass protests in places  such as Hungary, Nicaragua, the Philippines and elsewhere.

And yet, in her opinion there are parts of the world where, quite  unexpectedly, the struggle for democratic reform made giant strides -  a reminder that the right mix of activism, leadership and  circumstances can suddenly change the course of history. 

Remarkably, whether toppling autocrats or reversing corrosive  practices the bold leaders and committed activists that shocked the  system managed to achieve their goals without violence. The author  names three countries where unexpected changes have occured:  Ethiopia, Armenia and Peru.  It is noted that Armenia has experienced  a similarly dramatic turnaround. When It President Serzh Sargsyan,  already in office for a decade, staged a power grab by changing the  constitution and becoming prime minister, the  journalist-turned-activist Nikol Pashinyan leveraged the people's  anger to drastically change the country's direction. Pashinyan led a  massive march followed by crippling demonstrations, paralyzing the  country until the parliament - which had named Sargsyan prime  minister - finally relented. The nonviolent people power of Armenians  forced Sargsyan to resign and persuaded legislators to name Pashinyan  prime minister. But the biggest shift was still to come.  A week ago,  Armenians elected a new parliament, handing Pashinyan's bloc an  astonishing 70 percent of the vote. The previous ruling party,  Sargsyan's Republicans, didn't even manage the 5 percent minimum  required to enter parliament. Bolstered by the vote of confidence,  Pashinyan has now launched a comprehensive anti- corruption campaign  aimed at cleaning up the system of government'', the article reads. 

In conclusion the author considers that these countries and their  leaders still face dangerous obstacles ahead along the path to a  durable liberal democracy. Their experiments could still fail. But  the very fact that they have managed to make meaningful democratic  strides against such steep odds should give encouragement to those  battling the forces of damaging corruption and creeping  authoritarianism in other places.