On June 16, 2017, “The Armenian Interest,” a recently founded think tank, launched its platform and presented it to a mixed audience of Russians and local Armenians including some state officials such as Artsrun Hovhanissyan, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense and current Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan’s father, among others. On the same night, Impact Hub Yerevan welcomed its guests, colleagues and friends (along with many expats and repats as well as representatives from the UN and the U.S. Embassy) to celebrate the first anniversary of its opening in Armenia. In the first case, Russian was the dominant language of the event, whereas English and Armenian dominated the latter. Why the comparison?

Maybe it is better to start with a disclaimer to avoid any misunderstandings: This article is neither a criticism, nor an attack on any of the organizations mentioned. Moreover, it is not an attempt to depict the age old picture of the “West” vs. “East/Russia” as it relates to the Armenian reality. Rather, I use these two examples as a window through which we can analyze some larger socio-political processes of the Armenian political arena, as well as a gateway to understand some of the challenges and shortcomings that still prevail in what we often name “Post-Soviet” Armenia. Although what “The Armenian Interest” purports to do as a research center varies considerably from the agenda of organizations such as Impact Hub Yerevan, AGBU, OneArmenia, Idea Foundation and similar ones, an observation with a comparative lens can lead to us to tackle some fundamental questions that remain unanswered in the changing dynamics of the 21st century.

In his latest analysis, “In Search of the Armenian Political Brand,” Areg Galstyan argues that historical and political circumstances have led to the formation of two overarching Armenian “brands” - recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the struggle for the independence of the Artsakh Republic. Galstyan then raises two important questions, namely “Who are we?” and “Where are we going?” contending that in the absence of a clear understanding and vision, the Armenian factor in world politics becomes only the object element of other actors’ interests. Finally, the author concludes that the Armenian world needs to go through a long political path to form a national brand.

Though an offspring of the Genocide narrative, currently there seems to be an attempt to create a new “national” brand of “Armenian Humanitarianism and Global Awakening” based on the philanthropic vision of Ruben Vardanyan, Noubar Afeyan, and Vartan Gregorian with the recently established Aurora Prize. Despite its success in attracting celebrities and some international attention to Armenia, the initiative remains incomprehensible for many, including this author.

Although Galstyan does a wonderful job in explicating the theoretical framework of his analysis and its relevance to the Armenian case, there is a missing link which the author refers to in the final sentence of the article, yet does not elaborate on (maybe he will do so in upcoming pieces), namely, the political culture of the Republic of Armenia. Engaging with the ideas that Galstyan has used, I argue that one of the reasons Armenians have failed to come up with a palatable “national brand” lies in the absence of common political premises (beyond the Genocide and Artsakh) upon which collaborative platforms may be created in the Diaspora, but more importantly, in the Republic of Armenia.

In other words, not only did 2016, a tumultuous year (April War and Sasna Dzrer), further polarize Armenian society, but after 25 years of independence, parties, organizations, and civil society in Armenia have failed to carve a common and a mutually intelligible political language out of the multiplicity of ideas and ideologies that permeate Armenian social, cultural and political spheres. As analyzed in a recent article “Beyond Nationalism: The Case for Engaged Patriotism on the Eve of the 100th Anniversary of Statehood” by Raffi Ardhaldjian and this author, liberal or populist nationalism was not, and cannot simply be the answer to Armenia’s statehood challenges, as 25 years of inefficient governance has shown.