Vol. 11 No. 2 (32) (2020)

Only after signing the Armenian-Turkish “Peace and Friendship Pact” in Batumi on June 4, 1918, the Armenian National Central Council began to form the central bodies of the government of the Republic of Armenia. The problem of power was delayed not so much by internal political disputes as by external circumstances. The importance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the difficulties of its creation and accomplishment are presented as key issues of the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

In March 2011, rallies and demonstrations started in Syria, which later developed into an armed conflict and large-scale military operations between the Syrian government and opposition all over the country. With the gradual escalation of the conflict at the end of 2011, the Syrian government adopted a strategy of defending the western territories and regional centers, which were of strategic importance in Syria, and avoiding large-scale military operations in these areas. The situation in Syria changed dramatically at the end of 2015. It was due to Russia’s direct military assistance to the Syrian government.
The Syrian conflict has affected regional and extra-regional developments in the Middle East, paving the way for new realities, for the active engagement of a number of power centers in the Middle East and the processes of various formats aimed at a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
During the conflict (2011-2020) there were some results in the negotiation process (regulated by various international formats) of the crisis. Though they had mainly solved problems partially in certain parts of Syria, the importance of meetings in such formats cannot be underestimated. The peculiarity and global nature of the conflict provided no other solution than partial solutions to the Syrian crisis, which had an enormous impact and created opportunities for the views of the conflicting parties to be heard. The aforementioned resolution processes of the conflict allow us to assume that the parties involved in the conflict have shifted to a partial solution to the Syrian crisis. It presupposes a short-term solution or freezing of issues related to some areas of military-political and socio-economic importance, ensuring predictability of developments, after which it will be possible to get a comprehensive agreement on the Syrian conflict.
The Syrian conflict has long ceased to be a Middle Eastern regional reality, affecting global processes. Conflict resolution must have both regional and extra-regional dimensions, based on sensible and sincere approaches, which should prompt parties concerned with a quick resolution to the conflict to find the key to resolving the Syrian issue.

The 2018 Armenian Revolution brought significant changes to the regional policy, allowing to newly evaluate regional political processes. Specifically, these transformations affected the ability of Armenia to set our own rules in Armenian-Azerbaijani information warfare. Armenian-Azerbaijani information warfare
entered a new phase: new processes and issues of the Artsakh conflict brought up by Armenian side made Azerbaijan review their attitude toward the conflict: offensive strategy adopted by the new Armenian government shadowed the idea of swift victory served to Azerbaijani society for many years, new approaches of the Armenian side towards the information delivery reduced the efficiency of Azerbaijani propaganda, etc. At the same time, we are facing new challenges: Baku is taking serious steps towards creating a more comprehensive and diverse information policy. To meet these new challenges, and keep a high-resistant information environment, we need to create an information policy based on national interests and the national value system.

Reconciliation and regulation of Armenian-Turkish relations are of great importance, as problematic relations, or more specifically, the absence of official relations such as closed border, create threat to national security and prevent the sustainable development of Armenia, impact on regional stability and on regional cooperation in general. This article is an attempt to study the history of Armenian-Turkish relations of recent times proposing and counting outcomes of their possible future. Consequently, the research goal is to develop scenarios of the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement considering various factors. The research question is what probabilities the scenarios have considering the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and what other factors may influence the reconciliation of Armenia and Turkey? The study is conducted through the analysis of historical-critical, factual and statistical data while the research methods are Delphi method and Scenario analysis with the inclusion of a probabilistic assessment of political events’ occurrence in the general algorithm of scenarios construction.

The article observes different aspects of the notion of “risk” from theoretical and conceptual perspectives. Taking into consideration the comprehensive and institutional nature of the notion “risk”, we analyze it in the context of interaction with the notions of “security” and “threat”. The article explains the general concepts of “risk” and “security risk”, their peculiarities and definitions, as well as the main indicators which allow us to measure their impact on the State security policy.

The article analyzes the nature and features of the formation of political myths, as well as the most common political myths in the political system of Armenia. It is argued that every myth has a semantic center, the role of which in most cases is played by archetypes. The main plot of the myth unfolds around the semantic center. History and politics are the areas where most myths are created. Political myths in the mass consciousness do not reflect real political processes, but their distortions, original interpretations. They are widely used due to modern communication technologies and mass media. It is argued, that in addition to the negative impact on public consciousness, the myth can also have a positive effect, which is expressed in the mobilization of society, without which it is sometimes impossible to imagine overcoming the crisis in the political system, expressing the interests and goals of society or affirming democratic principles. In the article, some examples of political myths in the political system of Armenia are discussed: by the myths about a young state and a transitional period the authorities of the country have for a long time motivated the impossibility of solving basic social problems, corruption, weak democratization of social relations, etc. The myths about guaranteed security and sustainability of social life in the mass consciousness reflected the idea of a supposedly productive domestic and foreign policy. One of the most resistant political myths is the myth of the legitimacy of the chosen power in which the legality and legitimacy of power are presented as implying each other phenomena, although legally elected power may not be legitimate, and illegitimate power
may act completely legally. Simultaneously, with the process of a mythologization of politics, the process of demythologization in society is also taking place, which is most productive in the development of analytical and critical thinking, as well as on the condition that political relations are public, not backstage.

Harvard University Professor Joseph Nye first revealed the concept of “soft power” which he describes as an ability of a state to form preferences of other actors of world policy using its attractiveness for them. This is connected with culture, political values, and the foreign policy of the USA. It is becoming obvious that the efficiency of using military forces is substantially limited, and the need for states to increase their influence cannot fully be realized. Ideas that in their essence are close to “soft power”, appeared long before American political scientists started the discussion of the concept. It is necessary to pay attention to the works of G. Morgenthau, E. Carr, the Italian Marxist philosopher A.Gramsci, and others. Such concepts include the “concept of seduction” by J.Baudrillard, as well as the “concept of seduction” by Gilles Lipovetsky. Following John Hiring, researchers from different countries have made “soft power” the subject of their research. However, their positions concerning this concept are far from being unambiguous, and sometimes contradictory. An important rethinking
about “soft power” is the Chinese school of research of this phenomenon. Chinese researchers point to the historical roots of the idea of “soft power”, which can be found in the country’s history, and that this concept is harmony and naturalness for Chinese society.

The study of the issues of political participation in the article substantiated that the participatory culture has a decisive influence on the establishment of a democratic political governance system, both in terms of public trust and effective state policy in terms of replenishing professional staff in the state
apparatus. Active participation of citizens in the political decision-making process is one of the main principles of democratic governance and civil society. Therefore, it is necessary to promote the active participation of every member of society in public and political life, as only with active participation, it becomes possible to form a dialogue between the government and the people.