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JUST A SEMI-AUTHORITARIAN STATE
Last week, Armenian mass media was full of optimistic titles relating
to Armenia's bettering of position in ranking on trafficking fight,
freedom of speech and democracy, investment attraction and else. Still
there is not much to be happy for: according to rankings, Armenia
shifted from being an "authoritarian" to a "semi-authoritarian" state.
In Armenia no one particularly believes rankings, including
international. How can one believe the ranking which says that Armenia
is among first ten countries with the best retail trade investment
perspectives (The 2013 Global Retail Development Index)?
Those who know where Armenia is located on the map and what the real
situation is say otherwise. For instance, the U.S. ambassador to
Armenia John Heffern urged on the Armenian government not to intervene
in the IT sphere and let it develop. He is promoting Open government
partnership stating that it will better the indexes which Millennium
Challenges Corporation considers.
Semi-authoritarian management of the state, in fact, becomes a major
barrier to the development. It is not the blockade by Turkey and
Azerbaijan, not the U.S. sanctions against Iran, not the policy of
Russia, but the "semi-authoritarian" rule in the country. You should
thank for it is not authoritarian, we are told.
Armenian authorities are trying to change or imitate changes. The
last parliamentary session could be an index of democracy in
another country: reciprocal allegations for budget misappropriation,
kickbacks, criminal past and appeals to the prosecutor's office were
heard. But all the accusations were eliminated in the most common
"semi-authoritarian" mode - RPA stated that the prime minister won't
resign, Control Chamber was accused of political assessments and
everything remained as it used to be.
Armenian political-economic system is connected by a tough mutual
responsibility system. Any disclosure will drag along a long chain,
and the whole chain will fall apart. So now they will held from each
other even stronger than before. The main thing is to ensure the
chain does not collapse.
Perhaps, this fear is the reason of stubborn resistance of the Armenian
political system to the European integration. It supposes for other
relations in business and politics. Perhaps, the relations proposed
by Europe are not the best, but they differ from the current ones and
suppose for the destruction of the system. This is why Armen Movsisyan
says that the Customs Union is better since the system is used to it,
while with Europe, new processes which are possible to be turbulent,
are expected.
The semi-authoritarian system in Armenia recalls a besieged fortress -
oligarchs and officials don't allow others to come in expecting the
Trojan horse. They have isolated Armenia, helping Turkey and Russia
to render the country a boiling pot with the lid closed. But steam
in any case will find the way out, moreover the fire under the pot
is getting stronger.
Naira Hayrumyan 13:32 26/06/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/comments/view/30283
From: Baghdasarian
Last week, Armenian mass media was full of optimistic titles relating
to Armenia's bettering of position in ranking on trafficking fight,
freedom of speech and democracy, investment attraction and else. Still
there is not much to be happy for: according to rankings, Armenia
shifted from being an "authoritarian" to a "semi-authoritarian" state.
In Armenia no one particularly believes rankings, including
international. How can one believe the ranking which says that Armenia
is among first ten countries with the best retail trade investment
perspectives (The 2013 Global Retail Development Index)?
Those who know where Armenia is located on the map and what the real
situation is say otherwise. For instance, the U.S. ambassador to
Armenia John Heffern urged on the Armenian government not to intervene
in the IT sphere and let it develop. He is promoting Open government
partnership stating that it will better the indexes which Millennium
Challenges Corporation considers.
Semi-authoritarian management of the state, in fact, becomes a major
barrier to the development. It is not the blockade by Turkey and
Azerbaijan, not the U.S. sanctions against Iran, not the policy of
Russia, but the "semi-authoritarian" rule in the country. You should
thank for it is not authoritarian, we are told.
Armenian authorities are trying to change or imitate changes. The
last parliamentary session could be an index of democracy in
another country: reciprocal allegations for budget misappropriation,
kickbacks, criminal past and appeals to the prosecutor's office were
heard. But all the accusations were eliminated in the most common
"semi-authoritarian" mode - RPA stated that the prime minister won't
resign, Control Chamber was accused of political assessments and
everything remained as it used to be.
Armenian political-economic system is connected by a tough mutual
responsibility system. Any disclosure will drag along a long chain,
and the whole chain will fall apart. So now they will held from each
other even stronger than before. The main thing is to ensure the
chain does not collapse.
Perhaps, this fear is the reason of stubborn resistance of the Armenian
political system to the European integration. It supposes for other
relations in business and politics. Perhaps, the relations proposed
by Europe are not the best, but they differ from the current ones and
suppose for the destruction of the system. This is why Armen Movsisyan
says that the Customs Union is better since the system is used to it,
while with Europe, new processes which are possible to be turbulent,
are expected.
The semi-authoritarian system in Armenia recalls a besieged fortress -
oligarchs and officials don't allow others to come in expecting the
Trojan horse. They have isolated Armenia, helping Turkey and Russia
to render the country a boiling pot with the lid closed. But steam
in any case will find the way out, moreover the fire under the pot
is getting stronger.
Naira Hayrumyan 13:32 26/06/2013 Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/comments/view/30283
From: Baghdasarian