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In Pursuit of the Next Level
Public roundtables surrounding key policy issues are integral to the mission of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS). The Center, in cooperation with the National Citizens’ Initiative (NCI), convened in 2007 over twenty seminar-discussions which brought together representatives from other leading think tanks, NGOs, and youth groups, as well as political figures, analysts, policy specialists, citizens, and members of the media.
Owing to ACNIS’s initiative, numerous national and international issues have been circulated and widely exposed, and discussions launched across large cross-sections of the body politic. The hosting and perpetuation of the Armenian dialogue has been one of the Center’s foundational tenets, and it was vigorously applied this year.
Throughout the year, the ACNIS policy roundtable series delved into and sought answers to questions that are not only relevant today, but will be important in the future.
Between the months of January and May, ACNIS and NCI carried out a joint monitoring project that focused on media coverage in the run-up to the parliamentary elections of May 12. Our monitors examined print, television, and electronic news reporting; we gauged the impartiality of election campaign coverage, with an eye toward bolstering democratic precepts and curbing election fraud. The Center made public its findings through frequent roundtables and reports.
All through 2007, ACNIS also partnered with the prestigious Chicago Council on Global Affairs and WorldPublicOpinion.org to conduct strategic surveys in Armenia and then to convene seven expert forums in order to present and analyze the results of these worldwide opinion polls on key global issues.
ACNIS public hearings have also hosted discussions on human rights and freedom of speech, environmental issues, cultural policy, and numerous other questions relating to today’s Armenia.
The Center’s policy discussions have explored, in particular, opportunities for regional security and cooperation, the prospects of external and domestic policies, and other national imperatives. The discussion series on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations, resolution of the Mountainous Karabagh conflict, as well as Armenia’s diplomatic track have complemented the various “brainstorms” examining Armenia’s democratic process, its economic growth, the strengthening of the Armenian national currency, Armenian aviation and communication, and the media’s impact on the political developments of the country.
The pursuit of new models of collaboration is ongoing.
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
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