Black Sea Geopolitics after the Russia-Ukraine War: The View from Armenia

This article reviews the impact of the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the changing regional security situation on Armenia with a reference to Armenia's own security predicament, which has been persistent since the disastrous 44-day war in 2020. In that context, this article explores the perceptions of Armenia's political elite and experts on the regional situation based on public statements and published articles and interviews

Black Sea Geopolitics after the Russia-Ukraine war: The View from Armenia

This article reviews the impact of the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the changing regional security situation on Armenia with a reference to Armenia’s own security predicament, which has been persistent since the disastrous 44-day war in 2020. In that context, this article explores the perceptions of Armenia’s political elite and experts on the regional situation based on public statements and published articles and interviews

Armenia: Difficult Choice ahead as Socio-Economic Risks Loom

This article examines how the government of Armenia dealt with the challenges resulting from the novel coronavirus pandemic. The article reviews the quarantine measures and related policy responses, the economic and social consequences of the current crisis, the situation with freedom of speech, and the significance of economic dependency on Russia

The Role of Civil Society Observation Missions in Democratization Processes in Armenia

This article aims to explore the impact of civil society observation missions on the transparency of national and local elections in Armenia. Observation missions in transitioning countries are key to developing electoral institutions and increasing public trust in elections. In many post-Soviet countries, civil society observation missions developed earlier than in Armenia, where they mainly started after 2010, but during the short period since then, they have developed rapidly. The article examines how election observation influences the election process and democratization in Armenia. It also examines the abuse of state resources by the ruling political party and its allies as well as its impact on the results of elections

Electromagnetic wave propagation in spatially homogeneous yet smoothly time-varying dielectric media

We explore the propagation and transformation of electromagnetic waves through spatially homogeneous yet smoothly time-dependent media within the framework of classical electrodynamics. By modelling the smooth transition, occurring during a finite period {\tau}, as a phenomenologically realistic and sigmoidal change of the dielectric permittivity, an analytically exact solution to Maxwell's equations is derived for the electric displacement in terms of hypergeometric functions. Using this solution, we show the possibility of amplification and attenuation of waves and associate this with the decrease and increase of the time-dependent permittivity. We demonstrate, moreover, that such an energy exchange between waves and non-stationary media leads to the transformation (or conversion) of frequencies. Our results may pave the way towards controllable light-matter interaction in time-varying structures.Comment: 5 figure

THE ATTITUDES TOWARDS EUROPEAN INTEGRATION IN EASTERN PARTNERSHIP STATES: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ELITES’ COMMITMENT FOR FURTHER ENGAGEMENT

The paper examines how the cooperation with the EU has been influencing public sector, legal and economic reforms in EU’s Eastern neighbourhood by means of engaging the local political elites. The developments in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as the situation in Armenia, regarding the perspective for its further participation in the Eastern Partnership (EaP), are reviewed. In order to determine under which conditions the EU can have more influence over the political elites, the paper examines how the degree of commitment to the European norms and, consequently, the pace of reforms, depend on internal political situation and foreign policy priorities, on historical and cultural legacies, or the level of dependence on Russia

Russia's Relations with its Regional Allies since 24th February 2022

This issue considers the impact of Russia’s war on Ukraine on its relations with its long-term regional allies. Firstly, Luca Anceschi traces the ambiguous positioning adopted by the Central Asia states, noting that recent developments in their relationships to Moscow should be understood within the context of the wider processes of authoritarian consolidation currently at play in the region. Secondly, Armen Grigoryan focuses on the Armenia–Russian relationship, reviewing how Armenia’s political elite and experts have responded to the impact on Armenia’s own security predicament.Diese Ausgabe befasst sich mit den Auswirkungen von Russlands Krieg gegen die Ukraine auf die Beziehungen zu seinen langjährigen regionalen Verbündeten. Zunächst zeichnet Luca Anceschi die ambivalente Positionierung der zentralasiatischen Staaten nach und stellt fest, dass die jüngsten Entwicklungen in ihren Beziehungen zu Moskau im Kontext der allgemeinen autoritären Konsolidierung, die derzeit in der Region stattfindet, zu verstehen sind. Zweitens konzentriert sich Armen Grigoryan auf die armenisch-russischen Beziehungen und untersucht, wie Armeniens politische Elite und Experten auf die Auswirkungen auf Armeniens eigenes Sicherheitsdilemma reagiert haben.ISSN:1863-042

BRI as chance for regional cooperation: Iran - Armenia economic relations

The Belt and Road Initiative is one of the platforms for regional cooperation that enables participating countries to develop and deepen economic ties. The South Caucasus has always had great historical, political, geographical and economic significance for Iran. Through the research, we tried to find out what is the level of infrastructure development of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Türkiye and Iran, and what is the role of Iran in the trade of South Caucasus countries and Türkiye in 2002 and 2021. Armenia-Iran economic relations have been the closest. However, Armenia and Iran have not realized the full potential of cooperation. Providing a proper infrastructural base is one of the priority steps in that direction