Armenian civil society after twenty years of transition: still post-communist?

Abstract

This book is the outcome of a research project that was conducted in Armenia in 2012-2014. The overarching goal of the project was to assess current Armenian civil society: to determine what has changed or remained constant over two decades of post-communist development. We started with the assumption that a communist legacy of distrust and disengagement, documented in previous studies conducted in other post-communist countries, continues to plague Armenian civil society today, although it should affect the younger generation less. We have arrived at the conclusion that mistrust and disengagement are indeed noticeable, but there are reasons to believe they are conditioned by current social and political problems as much as they are an echo of the past. Our broader look at civil society organisations worldwide demonstrates that membership in post-communist countries remains distinctly low. Howard (2003, 150) was correct in his prediction that the weakness of civil society would likely persist in the region for at least several decades. This prediction is true for the region in general and for Armenia in particular, where membership in civil society organisations has not only remained very low but has actually decreased since 1997. Trust towards NGOs in Armenia is also low compared with other European (even post-communist European) countries and compared with its two South Caucasus neighbours: only approximately one-fifth of the Armenian population trusts NGOs. Worse still, trust is on the decline.