Thursday, November 14 – 8:30am-5:30pm
8:30am
Registration
9:00-10:00am
Welcoming Remarks
Karin Markides, President, American University of Armenia
Alina Gharabegian, Conference Organizing Committee Chair, New Jersey City University
Opening Remarks
Greg Sarkissian, President, Zoryan Institute
Razmik Panossian, Director of Armenian Communities Department of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Brian Ellison, CHSS Dean, American University of Armenia
10:00-11:30am
Panel 1: Post-Soviet Heritage, Stagnant Democratization, and Rising Aspirations
Moderator: Razmik Panossian
Susanne Brunnbauer, Armenia and Georgia between Apathy & Revolution: Civic Culture & Stability of Grey Zone Regimes
Gregory Areshian, Facing the Imperative of Choosing: The Armenian “Velvet” Sociopolitical Transformation as a Challenge to the Social Sciences
Stas Gorelik, When Triggers Cause Unrest: Explaining New Revolutions in the Post-Soviet Region
11:30-11:45am
Coffee Break
11:45am-1:15pm
Panel 2: Contentious Politics, Mobilization, and Media Use: From Digital Engagement to Street Presence
Moderator: Jenny Paturyan
Anna Hakobyan, Social Protests and the “Velvet Revolution” in Armenia: Tactics and Repertoires
Vedran Obucina, The Role of Religious Institutions in the Recent Uprisings
Narek Sukiasyan, Securitizing the Regime Change: The Mass Mobilisation Case of the Armenian “Velvet Revolution”
1:15-2:30pm
Lunch
2:30-4:15pm
Panel 3.1: Revolution, Transfer, or Interstice: How Systemic are the Changes?
Moderator: Vache Gabrielyan
Arpie Balian, Contrasts between Political Appeal and Good Governance Trajectories
Valentina Gevorgyan, Civil Society and Governmental Institutions in Armenia: Before and After May 2018
Basilio Monteiro, Direct Democracy and Small States: Creating Spaces for Communicative Rationality in Digital Media
4:30-5:15pm
Keynote Address
Noubar Afeyan, Founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering
Friday, November 15 – 9:00am-6:00pm
9:00am
Coffee
9:30-11:15am
Panel 3.2: Revolution, Transfer, or Interstice: How Systemic are the Changes?
Moderator: Arpie Balian
Donald Fuller, Toward a Theory of Small States
Vicken Cheterian, Armenian Velvet Revolution: What Was it About and How Could It Succeed?
John Antranig Kasbarian, Revolution or Regime Change? Armenia’s Democratic Transition, 2018-19
Tigran Mughnetsyan, The Election System as a Factor of Preservation for Democratization in Post-Revolutionary Ukraine and Armenia
11:30am-1:15pm
Panel 4: International Relations After a Political Upheaval: Continuity or Rupture?
Moderator: Hovhannes Nikoghosyan
Isa Aminu, The Lingering Libyan Crisis: An Insight from Exit, Voice, and Loyalty Approach
Loosineh Markarian, Armenia’s Velvet Revolution: Why Did Russia Remain Neutral?
Alen Shadunts, The Velvet Revolution in the Iranian Perspective
Baldur Thorhallson, Small States’ Shelter-Seeking Behaviour: The Case of Iceland
1:15-2:30pm
Lunch
2:30-4:15pm
Panel 5: Human Rights, Justice, and Rule of Law: Stability vs. Change
Moderator: Adelaida Baghdasaryan
David Mednicoff, The Rule of Law, Justice, and Rights in the Post-uprising Arab World: Changed Continuities
Ruben Shougarian, Armenia’s Sovereignty between Two Velvet Revolutions
Matt Torigian & Todd Foglesong, Sustainable and Systemic Changes in post-revolution Armenia – A Comparative Study
4:30-5:15pm
Concluding Remarks
Hovhannes Nikoghosyan, Lecturer, PSIA, American University of Armenia
5:15-6:00pm
Reception
Register here.