Tuesday, 26 November 2024

E Editorial

Imperative for an Alternative

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The incumbent government’s authority is in decline, though it would be more accurate to say, declining dramatically. In parallel, the number of people who believe that there is no alternative to political changes in Armenia is increasing.

Why is it so? The answer is simple: the government has failed in everything possible, except, thank God, the de jure loss of the statehood of Armenia itself, the possibility of which, however, is not so improbable. We were defeated and have lost territories in Artsakh, moreover, the person acting as the Prime Minister of Armenia has given up on Artsakh in negotiations in Prague. The moral and psychological atmosphere in the country is becoming more intolerable day by day, all areas are failing or are very close to it, and even personnel policy could have been considered comical if the results hadn’t been so tragic.

Thus, the issue of the resignation of the incumbent government is among the agenda priorities, but no matter how strange it may seem, no mass demonstrations are staged. This is the inevitable consequence of public apathy - lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern - when a person begins to come to terms with a fate like a victim who puts up with his end and does not resist otherwise. Such situations occur when there is no way out.

Has an entire country come to terms with its end? This is a very pessimistic version, we think the situation should be described as expectant. Human intelligence works in other schemes: when making a move, you need to have a perspective of the future. In particular, let's try to understand what are the challenges facing Armenia and what are the answers to them.

There are many such questions to be answered, however, the answers seem ambiguous. For example, what policy should we pursue regarding Artsakh; what options are being considered the Syunik transport and communications matter; who are our possible allies and enemies in terms of international politics; what kind of security system should Armenia be in; how realistic is the given option?

Other unanswered questions are related to the social policy to be conducted within the domestic policy - will we be able to have relations based on justice, an independent judicial system, etc.; how would the political parties be in the future, will they be viable to manage the country's destiny through fair elections; which of them can undertake the commitment and guarantee the administration of free and fair elections; is there any political team that can present an alternative composition of the future government to the public and so on?

This is the partial list of questions that people want answers to before launching a public uprising against the current impotent regime. If the answers to these questions are uncertain, and there is no, in particular, alternative government team, it is difficult to bring people to the streets and, even more, to expect them to fight decisively with the agenda of drastic change.

Once, in 2018, without discussing similar issues, the public rose up, brought about regime change, and appeared in front of a "vicious circle". The people will not repeat the same mistake a second time. It is neither realistic, nor promising.

The Armenian Center for National and International Studies

Yerznkian 75, 0033
Yerevan, Armenia

Tel.:

+374 10 528780 / 274818

Website:

www.acnis.am

  

The views of the authors do not necessarily reflect those of the Center.

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