La thèse a pour objet d’analyser les processus d’escalade et d’endiguement des conflits frontaliers de l’Arménie sur la base de deux études de cas qui mettent en jeu la question des minorités nationales arméniennes : l’Artsakh, disposant d’un statut de région autonome, devenu une zone de guerre entre l’Arménie et Azerbaïdjan ; et le Djavakhk, dépourvu d’un tel statut, resté une zone de paix entre l’Arménie et la Géorgie. Cette recherche permet notamment de discuter la thèse en vertu de laquelle l’existence ou pas d’un statut d’autonomie serait la condition explicative majeure des trajectoires différentes observées dans les deux zones du Haut-Karabagh et du Djavakhk. Sans ignorer le caractère essentiel du statut d’autonomie dans la transition de l’état de paix à l’état de guerre, la recherche met davantage l’accent sur les perceptions et les intérêts de sécurité tels qu’ils ont été définis et hiérarchisés par les décideurs arméniens à Erevan, à Stépanakert et à Akhalkalak. Appréhendés sous cet angle, les conflits dans le Caucase du Sud apparaissent plus fondamentalement comme le produit de deux dynamiques combinées : d’une part, une histoire continue, interrompue par la soviétisation de la zone et poursuivie à la libéralisation du régime ; d’autre part, un présent conditionné par des contraintes géopolitiques et normatives, qui ont contribué à forger les stratégies arméniennes de sécurité. Dans ces circonstances, l’autonomie politico-stratégique de la minorité – fondée sur la disponibilité de flux transnationaux – a joué un rôle déterminant dans les processus d’escalade et d’endiguement des conflits dans le Caucase du Sud. / The thesis aims at analyzing Armenia’s border conflicts’ escalation and containment on the basis of two case studies where national minority issues are at stake: Artsakh, which has had an autonomous status and became a war zone between Armenia and Azerbaijan; and Javakhk, which was deprived of such a status and kept as a zone of peace between Armenia and Georgia. This study will especially question whether the existence of an autonomous status was a key explanatory factor of the different paths taken in the two areas of Artsakh and Javakhk. Without ignoring the essential influence an autonomous status may have on the transition from war to peace, this research is rather focussing on security perceptions and interests as they have been defined and prioritized by Armenian decision-makers in Yerevan, Stepanakert and Akhlakalak. Seen from this perspective, conflicts in the South Caucasus seem to be more fondamentlly resulting from two combined dynamics: a continued history, interrupted by the sovietization of the area and ongoing since the regime was liberalized on the one hand; a present time, conditioned by geopolitical and normative constraints, which contributed to shape Armenian security strategies on the other hand. Under these circumstances, the minority's political-strategic autonomy – based on the availability of transnational flows – has played a key role in conflict escalation and containment in the South Caucasus.

Habilitationsschrift--Leipzig. / Includes bibliographical foot-notes.

Inaug.-dis.--Bonn. / Vita.

Public relations has been expanding internationally during the last few decades. This has generated interest for public relations research in different parts of the world. The scholars urge the community to continue investigating the public relations practice globally. The proposed exploratory study of public relations in Armenia has described and explained the patterns and factors of public relations in the country as practiced in organizations. It was an attempt to investigate public relations practice in Armenia in lines with the socio-cultural and environmental models and theories employed for studying global public relations. The overarching purpose of the study was to understand the specifics that define public relations in Armenia from the perspective of the practitioners. The study applied qualitative and quantitative research methods to look into the function, value and role of public relations in organizations operating in Armenia. The accumulated data and derived knowledge shall identify the avenues of growth and contribute to empowering the best practices of the profession. Secondly, the study shall be a modest contribution to the scholarship and literature pertaining to global public relations. / Department of Journalism

This thesis examines the immigration to and long-term settlement in post-Soviet Armenia of Armenians from well-established diasporic communities - mostly from Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Canada, and the United States. It argues that diverse levels and combinations of anchoring and floating co-exist in the diasporan returnees' return motivations, post-return integration experiences, and identity and belonging (re)conceptualization processes. They are manifested in the returnees' habitual dispositions, imaginative aspirations, and practical considerations, which develop within a particular sociohistorical environment. The study also considers the changes that occur over time in the structural context and in the ways returnees engage with it. It demonstrates that the inclination of returnees toward more rooted or more mobile directions depends, to a large extent, on their diasporic community background, the generation they belong to, and more immediate factors related to their life-cycle stages. Throughout the analysis, the important role of emotions in the return visions and experiences is highlighted. The thesis makes an empirical contribution by studying the largely uncharted case of Armenian diasporic return in the post-Soviet era. At a more theoretical level, it promotes a balanced approach that goes beyond the overemphasis on mobility and the relative neglect of sedentarism that have characterized many works in the fields of diaspora and migration studies over the past few decades. Underlying this balanced path is the goal of recognizing the equal importance of and complex inter-relationship between human agency and objective structures. To this end, the thesis relies on a theoretical framework based primarily on some of Pierre Bourdieu's key conceptual tools, with certain modifications. Thus, the study frames the topic of long-term diasporic return migration within broader social theory. This way, not only does it link diasporic return to paradigms in migration and diaspora studies, but it also views it from a wider angle of social action.

I. Human Rights and Democratic Movements in Armenia - Human Rights as an “Attractor” of Europeanization Processes of Transcaucasian “Neither War nor Peace Societies” (Artur Mkrtichyan) - Human Rights Defender’s Office Armenia (Larisa Alaverdyan) - The Factor of Human Rights Protection as Criteria for the Development in the Social System (Hovhannes Hovhannisyan) - Two Priorities and Two Suggestions in Leading the Way to Human Rights Protection (Gevork Manoukian) - Intrastate Mechanisms of the Protection of Human Political Rights and Freedoms in Armenia (Ashot A. Alexanyan) - The Future of Democracy in Armenia: Institutional and Mass Beliefs Perspectives (Alexander Markarov) II. Human Rights and Education in Armenia - Human Rights in the System of Civic Education Values (Valery Poghosyan) - The Role of Academic Knowledge in Maintaining Tolerance (Ani Muradyan) - Rights of a Child or Duties of Adults...? (Mira Antonyan) - The Right to Education for Children with Special Needs: Inclusive Education in Armenia (Marina Hovhannissyan) - Human Rights Awareness and UNDP Evaluation in Armenia (Kristina Henschen) - Human Rights Education in Armenia – A Base Line Study (Litit Umroyan; Lucig Danielian) III. Human Rights and Minorities in Armenia - Human Rights, Minorities and Human Rights Education in Armenia: An External Perspective (Claudia Mahler; Anja Mihr; Reetta Toivanen) - Minorities and Identity in Armenia (Tatevik Margaryan) - Legal and Real Opportunities for the National Minorities Residing on the Territory of the Republic of Armenia (Hranush Kharatyan)

No description available.

Previous studies of gender in post-socialist societies have described a shift in gender roles where women became associated with the domestic sphere, particularly within nationalist literature and in everyday discourses about the nation. However, this literature fails to adequately explore what domestic activities women are participating in and how they may gain status or power through those activities. In agreement with post-socialist literature concerning the shift in gender roles, Armenian nationalism presents a view of women as ideal mothers and caretakers, often relegated to the domestic sphere. However, also within nationalist literature and contemporary discourse about Armenian identity is another central theme explored here: the survival of Armenian families and Armenia itself in situations of innumerable odds, feats that are often credited to the ingenuity and resourcefulness of individuals of the small and often out-numbered nation. The significance of "making do" or improvisation in Armenian daily life and in national narratives is significant to a study of gender in independent Armenia because it is primarily the woman's responsibility to procure and prepare all of the resources necessary for feeding her family. Therefore, I argue that cooking practices in Armenia are certainly a part of domestic life, but contrary to some Western feminist ideals, domestic activities are neither stifling to women's creativity nor are they activities that are devalued or in other ways less important than public activities. In Armenia, this is because women can appeal to `traditional' national ideologies in order to reaffirm their status as women and mothers, which subsequently allows them to earn prestige within the community and to exert influence within their households.

This dissertation is the first systematic study of Armenia’s foreign policy during the post-independence period, between 1991 and 2004. It argues that a small state’s foreign policy is best understood when looking at the regional level. Armenia’s geographic proximity to Iran, Russia and Turkey, places it in an area of heightened geopolitical interest by various great powers. This dissertation explores four sets of relationships with Armenia’s major historical ‘partners’: Russia, Iran, Turkey and the West (Europe and the United States). Each relationship reveals a complex reality of a continuous negotiation between ideas of history, collective memory, nationalism and geopolitics. A detailed study of Armenia’s relations with these powers demonstrates how actors’ relations of amity and enmity are formed to constitute a regional security complex. Turkey represents the ultimate “other”, while both Europe and Iran are seen as ideational “others”, whose role in Armenia’s foreign policy, aside from pragmatic policy considerations, reflects a normative quest. Russia and the United States, on the other hand, represent the powerful structural forces that define the regional security complex, in which Armenia operates. This dissertation argues that although Armenia has been severely constrained in certain foreign policy choices, it was adept at carving a space for action that privileged the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh over other geopolitical imperatives.

Thesis advisor: David DiPasquale / For forty-four days in the fall of 2020, Armenians and Azeris fought a bitter war for control of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan’s victory upset the region’s uneasy status quo and plunged the South Caucasus into a renewed state of uncertainty. While the most recent war was fought with twenty-first century weapons, the roots of the Armenian-Azeri conflict over Artsakh stretch back well over a century. In order to unravel the causes behind Azerbaijan’s invasion last fall, this thesis delves into the history behind the present conflict, engaging both with Artsakh’s ancient past as well as the more recent developments that have shaped the region in the post-Soviet era. This thesis also offers a comprehensive account of the war, examining the factors behind Azerbaijan’s military success. In doing so, this thesis seeks not only to offer insights into past events, but also to identify the political dynamics that will continue to influence the region in the years to come. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Political Science.