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.
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