Foreign and national policy issues in pre-election programs of Armenian political parties

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to observe and analyze positions of Armenian political parties towards important national and foreign policy issues as well as to find whether they support their program proposals by pertinent methods and mechanisms. The study utilizes content/comparative analysis. The sources for analysis are pre-election programs of 14 parties, which took part in 2007 parliamentary elections. To describe a political party’s pre-election program on national issues this study’s starting point is the examination of the most important factors of national language, history, and culture. Moreover, the essay will discuss the ways of solving national security issues that parties bring in their pre-elections programs. The study, then, will try to identify how the major issues of foreign policy are addressed in the Armenian parties’ pre-election programs. In particular, the three directions of foreign policy would be analyzed: Armenian-Turkish relations, including the Genocide problematics and the opening of Armenian-Turkish border, Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, in particular the Karabakh conflict, Armenian-Georgian relations, including the problem of Javakhk, and Armenian-Diaspora relations.