American expert: Very individual processes in Armenia raised global  issues

ArmInfo. Last year's events in  Armenia contradicted the global trends that were observed earlier. On  March 28, a senior fellow in Carnegie's Russia and Eurasia Program  Paul Stronski (USA), expressed such an opinion at the opening of the  Orbeli Analytical Research Center in Yerevan.

According to him, in general, global trends are going towards  radicalization and authoritarianism of the regimes, as, for example,  it was observed in Hungary, while the events in Armenia happened in a  completely different direction and had a positive outcome.

At the same time, Stronski expressed his conviction that Russia's  behavior was very important in the processes in Armenia. "The  question was whether Armenia would become an apple of discord between  Russia and the United States, but fortunately, the Russian side  reacted quite cautiously and carefully," said the expert, adding that  in the post-revolutionary period there were positive trends in  Armenian-American bilateral relations.

Stronski also admitted that the protests in Armenia in 2018  astonished the international community, and this was due to the fact  that the role and possibilities of the Armenian civil society and the  tools of its impact were underestimated.

The expert of the Carnegie Center believes that the events of April  2016 also played a role in the changes that took place.

"In addition, representatives of civil society were not afraid to  challenge the former government. It is noteworthy that the previous  authorities, realizing this, even if they took small steps, but went  to solving the problems voiced by the activists, that is, at some  stage, the previous authorities showed readiness to make concessions  " the expert said.

Stronski also expressed his conviction that the Internet and social  media had a serious impact on the processes in Armenia. "Very  individual processes in Armenia have raised global problems. People  get tired of their leaders who have been continuously ruling for 8-10  years. We are becoming witnesses of this today in Europe. In the same  Germany, people are already tired of Chancellor Angela Merkel and  want changes.  The same thing happens in France. Prolonged being in  power leads to the fact that state leaders lose touch with reality  and do not notice the immediate needs of citizens, " the expert said.

At the same time, he stated that Armenia is part of the Eurasian  world, and expressed his conviction that the change of power in  Kazakhstan is the result of last year's events in Armenia. In  conclusion, he stated that at first, last year's events in Armenia  were not in the center of attention of the US media, although serious  publications wrote about this, however, thanks to the efforts of the  Armenian community of America, they became a topic of heated  discussion in American media.