ARMENIA’S DOMESTIC POLICY AFTER THE VELVET REVOLUTION: SELECTED ISSUES
Keywords:
Armenia, Armenia’s domestic policy, Nikol Pashinyan, reformsAbstract
The article aims to analyze and characterize changes in Armenia’s domestic policy initiated by the reform government led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. In the course of research, the emphasis was placed on the presentation of such issues as the fight against corruption, the reform of the tax system, the fight against poverty and the reform of the judiciary system. It was also extremely important to present the short-term implications of the implemented measures and to discuss the attitude of the society towards the executed reforms, as well as public support for the operations of new political forces.
In the light of the results of the re- search, it is clear that the activity of the post- revolutionary government has significantly changed the domestic policy vector of Armenia, bringing the country closer to meeting international democratic standards and strengthening the economic sector.
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For more on Armenia’s policy before the Velvet Revolution see: Armenia’s Foreign and Domestic Politics: Development Trends, ed. by M. Palonkorpi, A. Iskandaryan, Erevan, 2013; M. Zolyan, “The Poverty of Authoritarianism: What Made the Armenian Revolution Possible,” in: Protests in Armenia. The Domestic Dimension, ed. by L. Badalyan, available at [https:// www.research -collection.ethz.ch/bitstream/handle/20.500.11850/323671/2/CAD108%281%29.pdf]; N. Borisov, “Potentials and Limits of Political Competition: Institutional Transformations in Georgia and Armenia in the 2000S”, Central Asia and the Caucasus, Vol. 16, Issue 3-4, 2015, pp. 17-22.
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In January 2019, Transparency International specialists, in an official statement, made a number of comments indicating that the course of work on the document, as well as its structure and content, raise a number of objections (see: “Statement on Draft RA Anticorruption Strategy and its Implementation Action Plan 2019-2022,” Transparency International Anticorruption Center, available at [https://transparency.am/en/news/view/2596]; “2019-2022 Anti-Corruption Strategy Discussed, Goals Mentioned,” available at [https://www.aysor.am/en/news/2018/12/19/anti-corruption/1505560].
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Ibidem.
See: “Erevan Court Refuses to Free Kocharyan,” The Armenian Mirror-Spectator, available at [https://mirrorspectator. com/2019/09/19/Erevan-court-refuses-to-free-kocharyan/].
Ibidem.
For more details, see: “Former President Serge Sarkisian Charged with Embezzlement,” The Armenian Weekly, available at [https://armenianweekly.com/2019/12/04/former-president-serzh-sargsyan-charged-with-embezzlement/].
See: “New Poll: Armenians Support Anti-Corruption Measures, Want Action on Socioeconomic Concerns,” International Republican Institute, available at [https://www.iri.org/resource/new-poll-armenians-support-anti-corruption- measures-want-action-socioeconomic-concerns].
See: N. Badalian, “Armenian Parliament Adopted Amendments to Tax Code: Changes are Aimed at Improving the Competitiveness of the National Economy,” Financial Portal ArmInfo, available at [https://finport.am/full_news. php?id=38733&lang=3].
See: “Parliament Ends Work of Extraordinary Session,” National Assembly of Republic of Armenia, available at [http:// www.parliament.am/news.php?cat_id=2&NewsID=11786&year=2019&month=06&day=25&lang=eng]; N. Badalian, op. cit.
For more on this, see: “Amendments to the Tax Code in the Light of the Reasons for, and Consequences of, the 2018 Revolution in Armenia,” Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, available at [http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/georgien/15471.pdf].
See: “Armenia—Poverty Snapshot over 2002-2018,” Statistical Committee of Republic of Armenia, pp. 32, 34, 36, available at [https://www.armstat.am/file/article/poverty_2019_english_2.pdf].
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For more details, see: “Privileges Provided Under New Investment Projects: Over 900 Jobs to Be Created in Armenia,” available at [https://www.gov.am/en/news/item/9460/].
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For more details, see: Armenia: Tertiary Education, SABER Country Report, October 2019, The World Bank, available at [https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/32631/Saber-Tertiary-Education-Country-Report- Armenia-2019.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y].
See: E.Y. Azadian, “Challenges to Armenia’s Judicial Reforms,” available at [https://mirrorspectator.com/2019/08/01/ challenges-to-armenias-judicial-reforms/].
See: “Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Statement on Judiciary System,” The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, available at [https://www.primeminister.am/en/statements-and messages/item/2019/05/20/Nikol-Pashinyan- Speech/].
The procedure for the election of members of the Constitutional Court is laid down in Art 166 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia: Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, available at [https://www.president.am/en/ constitution-2015/%20-%3E].
See: Armenia. Joint Opinion of the Venice Commission (...) on the Amendments to the Judicial Code and Some other Laws, European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), pp. 17-18, available at [https://www.venice. coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-AD(2019)024-e].
See: “EU Reaffirms Support for Judicial Reforms in Armenia,” available at [https://www.azatutyun.am/a/30187494. html]; “Remarks by President Donald Tusk after his Meeting with Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan,” available at [https://www.consilium.europa.eu/pl/press/press-releases/2019/07/10/remarks-by-president-donald-tusk-after-his-meeting- with-prime-minister-of-armenia-nikol-pashinyan/].
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[https://www.doingbusiness.org/content/dam/doingBusiness/media/Annual-Reports/English/DB2019-report_web- version.pdf]; [https://www.doingbusiness.org/content/dam/doingBusiness/media/Annual-Reports/English/DB2018-Full-Report.pdf]; [https://www.globalinnovationindex.org/gii-2019-report#]; [https://www.globalinnovationindex.org/userfiles/file/ reportpdf/gii_2018-report-new.pdf].
See: “New Poll: Armenians Optimistic About Future, New Government,” available at [https://www.iri.org/resource/ new-poll-armenians-optimistic-about-future-new-government]; “New Armenia Poll: High Public Confidence in Government; Enduring Economic Concerns,” available at [https://www.iri.org/resource/new-armenia-poll-high-public-confidence-government-enduring-economic-concerns].
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