Post-Soviet Armenia : The New National Elite and the New National Narrative.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- List of abbreviations -- 1 Introduction -- Setting the stage -- What, why and how? -- Research question -- Why Armenia? -- Empirical significance -- Theoretical relevance -- Conceptual framework -- Elites and elite formations -- The role of elites in constructing a nationally significant narrative -- Methodology -- Book outline -- Chapter organization -- Notes -- 2 Armenia's political elites? -- Introduction -- Elite? -- Armenian political elites: historical shortcut -- A look into Armenian nobility -- Political leadership of the First Republic -- The partocratic elite of Soviet Armenia -- Conceptualizing elite transformation -- Identifying elites -- Classics -- Other schools -- Post-Soviet elite conceptualization -- New Armenia, new elites? -- Circulation or reproduction, transformation or continuity -- Profiling Ter-Petrosyan's elites: ex-Soviet nomenklatura, former Soviet dissidents and representatives of the Diaspora, 1991-8 -- Profiling Kocharyan's elites: NK war veterans, Soviet- and Western-educated technocrats, Diaspora representatives and oligarchs, 1998-2008 -- Profiling Sargsyan's elites: political nomads, 2008-16 -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 3 Constructing and deconstructing the national narrative -- Introduction -- Conceptualizing national identity and national interest -- Constructing the concepts: the role of elites -- Armenian 'imagined community' -- Across the millennia -- Soviet 'acculturation' -- The nation state or nation and state? -- Ter-Petrosyan's nation building: concessions vs. survival -- Kocharyan's state building narrative: 'embracing survival' -- Sargsyan: reimagining the imagined? -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 4 The nerve of Armenian politics: Nagorno-Karabakh -- Introduction -- From Arran to the Black Garden -- War and independence.

Over- or under-securitization? -- Ter-Petrosyan: the cost of the presidential chair -- Kocharyan: moving Stepanakert to Yerevan -- Sargsyan: more talks, fewer results -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 5 Turkey: confronting the past, surviving the present -- Introduction -- Ottoman Armenians: a stateless nation -- Genocide: survival and identity reinforcement -- Soviet-Turkish courtship -- Surviving or embracing the present? -- Ter-Petrosyan: 'no eternal enemies' -- Kocharyan: a permanent 'the other' -- Sargsyan: the in-between -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 6 Diaspora: Armenia's failed marriage -- Introduction -- Diaspora: a reimagined community -- Armenians: a diaspora nation -- Myth and reality of the homeland -- Ter-Petrosyan's underestimation -- Kocharyan's 'cash cow' -- Sargsyan's carrots and sticks -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 7 Zero axes -- Introduction: between East and West -- The love affair with Russia -- The West: restrained desire -- The camaraderie with Iran -- The significant insignificance of Georgia -- Joggling between the axes -- Ter-Petrosyan's pro-Westernism and 'balancing' -- Kocharyan's pro-Russian 'complementarity' -- Sargsyan's pro-Armenian 'zero axis' -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 8 Conclusion -- Introduction -- Research -- Findings -- Viable conceptualizations -- Challenges -- What next? -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Appendix I: Contacted and interviewed politicians -- Appendix II: Interview questions -- Appendix III: Post-independence Armenia timeline -- Index.

The book examines the importance of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan, considers the impact of fraught relations with Turkey and the impact of relations with other neighbouring states including Russia, and discusses the poorly-developed role of the very large Armenian diaspora.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.