The First Dove

So the year 2007 has passed quietly away, leaving behind a trail of domestic political events that seem to trickle, at first, as mere quicksand of history. And yet a thorough analysis leads us to believe that what happened in and passed through our country has left an enduring mark on the Armenian soul, society, and standing in the international community.

All throughout the year, the Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) has been engaging the nation’s political processes, and gauging its responsiveness to the daily concerns of average citizens. The Center’s comprehensive analysis and research have allowed us to compile, consolidate, and understand the challenges facing Armenia, and ultimately to identify avenues that lead from problems to solutions.

There is no doubt that the pivotal political development of 2007 was the parliamentary election of May 12, which served as the definitive barometer of the nation’s political will and aptitude. In the face of fierce resistance mounted by the ruling administration, Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs and ACNIS founder Raffi K. Hovannisian and the Center’s director of research Stepan Safarian received the people’s vote of confidence and acceded to the National Assembly. This is a tremendous honor for ACNIS; it is the proof of its prominence and the herald of a new beginning. As a result, national benchmarks will continue to be pushed, and solutions will be made more efficient, tangible, and grounded in fact. ACNIS’s valuable research which, for political reasons, had been ignored and mocked by the authorities of the past troubled decade, will now set the tone for the political, economic, and social debates that will shape national policy. ACNIS’s excellence in research can now influence and urge to excellence Armenian politics.

You will have noticed that the Center did not issue a news bulletin or a yearbook in the previous year; these shortcomings were tied to financial difficulties which, thanks to our strategic partners, have now been overcome. Those difficulties, however, affected neither the quality nor the breadth of the Center’s productive activities. Our exceptional staff continued to represent the Center at prestigious international conferences and symposia, continued its incisive research of socioeconomic and political issues including the resolution of the Mountainous Karabagh conflict, and launched and carried out an unparalleled monitoring project that reviewed all local media coverage in the run-up to the parliamentary elections. In partnership with the renowned Chicago Council on Global Affairs and World Public Opinion.org, ACNIS also conducted a series of major nationwide surveys on global issues. The Center was the only think tank entrusted to carry out such a comprehensive study of the republic.

Achievements, however, are not grounds for contentment. On the contrary, they impel us to work with a greater enthusiasm, to reach for still-greater heights, and to seek not to duplicate our accomplishments, but to surpass them in 2008, the most important and critical year in the Center’s history.

Founded in 1994 by Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs Raffi K. Hovannisian, and supported by the Lincy Foundation and a global network of contributors, ACNIS serves as a link between innovative scholarship and the public policy challenges facing Armenia and the Armenian people in the post-Soviet world. It also aspires to be a catalyst for creative, strategic thinking and a wider understanding of the new global environment. In 2005, the Center focuses primarily on public outreach, civic education, and applied research on critical domestic and foreign policy issues for the state and the nation.

For further information on the Center and its activities, call (3741) 52-87-80 or 27-48-18; fax (3741) 52-48-46; e-mail root@acnis.am or info@acnis.am