Armenian Civil Society

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Introduction

   • Yevgenya Paturyan, Valentina Gevorgyan

   Pages 1-12

3. Civil Society in the Context of Post-Communist Democratisation Discourse

   • Yevgenya Paturyan, Valentina Gevorgyan

   Pages 13-26

4. Methodology of the Study

   • Yevgenya Paturyan, Valentina Gevorgyan

   Pages 27-37

5. Still Post-Communist? Testing Howard’s Predictions

   • Yevgenya Paturyan, Valentina Gevorgyan

   Pages 39-57

6. Armenian Civil Society: Explaining the Post-Communist Weakness

   • Yevgenya Paturyan, Valentina Gevorgyan

   Pages 59-77

7. The Generational Change in Armenia and Its Impact on Civil Society

   • Yevgenya Paturyan, Valentina Gevorgyan

   Pages 79-97

8. The Formal Domain of the Civil Society Ecosystem: Armenian NGO

   • Yevgenya Paturyan, Valentina Gevorgyan

   Pages 99-114

9. The Informal Domain of the Civil Society Ecosystem: Civic Initiatives

   • Yevgenya Paturyan, Valentina Gevorgyan

   Pages 115-131

10. Growing Complexity of the Civil Society Ecosystem

    • Yevgenya Paturyan, Valentina Gevorgyan

    Pages 133-148

11. Conclusion and Discussion

    • Yevgenya Paturyan, Valentina Gevorgyan

    Pages 149-157

12. Back Matter

    Pages 159-187

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This book analyzes Armenian civil society in the context of post-communist democratization. It explores persistent challenges to civic engagement under Armenia’s semi-authoritarian regime, and also highlights success stories of public mobilization and social impact. Drawing on a broad range of methods and empirical sources, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the re-emerging diversity of Armenian civil society: from formal organizations to spontaneous activism. It combines a country-level analysis of broad patterns in the country’s political culture with the life stories of individual agents of change, contrasting public apathy with young activists’ enthusiasm. By exploring mobilization strategies and narratives in Armenian civil society, the book provides valuable new insights into the roots of the mass public uprising in spring 2018.

• Armenian civil society
• Post-communist democratization
• Civic engagement
• Public mobilization
• Political activism
• democracy
• russian and post-soviet politics

• American University of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia

  Yevgenya Paturyan

• University of Fribourg, Yerevan, Armenia

  Valentina Gevorgyan

Yevgenya Jenny Paturyan is an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the American University of Armenia and Assistant Director of the Turpanjian Center for Policy Analysis at the same university since 2011. Previously she worked at Caucasus Research Resources Centers, Armenia. She received her PhD in Political Science from Jacobs University Bremen, Germany in 2009. Her main academic interests are in civil society, volunteering, the democratization of post-communist countries, and corruption.


Valentina Gevorgyan is a PhD student of Political Science at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland and Civil Society Program Coordinator at Open Society Foundations, Armenia. Prior to that, she was a Senior Researcher at the Turpanjian Center for Policy Analysis, part of the American University of Armenia. Her academic interest focuses on the role of civil society in the development of public policy agenda and the promotion of human rights in hybrid regimes. Her doctoral research aims to provide a deeper understanding of the contemporary relationship between civil society and governmental institutions in Armenia.

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