MONOGRAPHY: “One Year Later: The Psychology of Comparative Change in Armenia and the US” monograph presented in Yerevan (panarmenian.net)

PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) today convened a special roundtable to present the findings of a new monograph entitled “One Year Later: The Psychology of Comparative Change in Armenia and the US.”

Welcoming the participants and attendees, ACNIS Director Richard Giragosian explained that “one year after the tragic events of March 1, 2008, Armenia remains challenged by the lingering effects of an unresolved post-election crisis,” but noted that “the underlying causes of Armenia’s post-election crisis include several unresolved problems, ranging from widening socio-economic disparities to a pronounced political polarization.”

The ACNIS Director went to say that the monograph revealed “an interesting parallel in the psychology of comparative change in Armenia and the United States, driven in both countries by an awakening of the people, as a population no longer satisfied with apathy or inactivity, and seeking an agenda for change.”

The day’s first speaker, ACNIS Research Coordinator Syuzanna Barseghian, presented the monograph’s findings entitled “The Logic of the Presidential Election of 2008: The Change of the Public Perceptions.” According to Barseghian, Armenia’s 2008 presidential elections were distinct because, this time, apathy did not accompany the entire pre- and post-election process. And during the post-election phase, there was a civic and psychological process which the authorities tried to define as an “appropriation of state power” and a “coup” attempt, whereas the opposition called it a “people’s movement. “Yet the greatest concern is the disappointment that could emerge among the masses who have awakened from apathy, and this disappointment is dangerous for the whole society. It is therefore necessary to learn lessons from such developments,” Barseghian noted. “The social tension and the polarization of the political field as well as the absence of discourse and the state of intolerance, all of which are the results of the 2008 presidential elections, inevitably will bring about a need to increase the societal factor and the citizens’ role in the political processes, a change in public perceptions, and a demand for a ‘new opposition.’”

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