Vol. 4 No. 2 (2013)

Articles

• Articles

  The Problem of Involuntary Resettlement in Development Project

  Sona Poghosyan

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  Abstract

  Nowadays various development projects aimed at generating economic growth and thereby improving general welfare are implemented in Armenia, as in many other post-Soviet countries. These large-scale infrastructural projects are usually funded by private or international donors in order to contribute to the development of various infrastructural sectors of the country, such as urban development, road construction, water supply, etc. However, internationally as well as in our country in recent years such programs may result not only in the expected positive development, but also in a number of negative social and environmental consequences such as obligatory land/property acquisition and involuntary resettlement. This is exacerbated by concerns about the possibility of long-term sustainable development approach, where economic development takes place at the expense of increasing social or environmental risks. This article discusses the problem of involuntary resettlement in development projects and analyses its characteristics in modern societies considering the Armenian experience as well.

  References
• Articles

  Methodological Approaches to Study of Social Characteristics of the Virtual Network Communities

  Anna Malkhasyan

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  Abstract

  The emergence of the Internet as a new virtual space for the functioning of the network communities raises the serious problem for social scientists to choose a suitable methodology for the study of the social characteristics of the newly appeared social constructs. The major controversy discussed by the representatives of the traditional approach is that the technological and the virtual nature of these social objects constrained their interpretation within the traditional paradigms. In order to deal with these controversies the current researches and more frequently applied methodologies were brought together and examined thoroughly in this article. The effectiveness of the ethnomethodological, phenomenological, network and social capital approaches were discussed in relation to the study of the social characteristics of the virtual network communities. As a result of this analysis, it was noticed that while using each of these methodologies the researchers have been focusing their attention on one or two components of the virtual communities in expense of ignoring the interplays between all of the components. To overcome this shortcoming we suggested observing virtual network communities as socio-technical systems, which are composed of technological, structural, normative, purposive, socio -psychological, resource and socio cultural subsystems. The sociotechnical system approach appears as a mixed theoretical framework, as it allows integrating network, social capital and system approaches to explain the regularities of developing and functioning of newly appeared social objects.

  References
• Articles

  The Role of Violence in Formation of Armed Forces as a Social Institution and Interpretation of Civil-Military Relations

  Alkesandr Avetisyan

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  Abstract

  The article seeks to identify social theories addressing direct conjunction between the violence and development of state-building process. The violence in its organized form is perceived both as a driving force of state-building process and as land marking characteristic of state. The state permanently fights out the “right of violence” from hands of other social groups and promotes a proper mechanism to hold that during the entire social history. However, based on historical experience it becomes obvious that monopolization of the organized violence even by the state itself can be dangerous for the society, hindering development, and bringing to consolidation of violent force into the hands of “wrong” elites. Thus, it should be delegated to special law enforcement institutions (like armed forces and police) having necessary skills, structure and functional capacities, in order to avoid seizure and manipulation of violence by out-of-law social groups, as well as creating productive mechanism of checks and balances between civilian and military components of the state and society.

  References