For Armenia and Azerbaijan, the year 2005 was marked by intensified negotiations over a possible agreement in the Karabakh peace process. The presidents and foreign ministers of the two countries met several times during the year, and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs from France, Russia,... MORE

The Armenian authorities' economic policies have received another Western endorsement with the publication of extensive research conducted by a group of economists from the International Monetary Fund. In a research paper unveiled on December 6, they describe as "impressive" Armenia's decade-long economic growth and offered... MORE

The administration of President Robert Kocharian has enacted its controversial constitutional amendments following a November 27 referendum that raised Armenia's post-Soviet culture of electoral fraud to new heights. Its deeply flawed handling of the vote is also a serious setback for the West's cautious efforts... MORE

On November 11 Armenia's parliament approved the national budget for next year. The budget volume is due to exceed $1 billion for the first time in the country's post-Soviet history. The administration of President Robert Kocharian presented the planned 22% increase in government spending as... MORE

The United States has unveiled a $6 million plan to facilitate the conduct of free and fair elections in Armenia. The program, outlined by the U.S. ambassador in Yerevan, John Evans, on October 27, has a logistical emphasis and does not seem to address the... MORE

Armenia's National Security Service (NSS), the unreformed successor to the local branch of the Soviet KGB, has come under rare media attention after launching dubious criminal proceedings against prominent government critics. The resulting arrests of two businessmen who have alleged high-level corruption within the Armenian... MORE

Akhalkalaki, the main town in the predominantly Armenian-populated and Armenia-bordered Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia, was the site of an anti-government protest rally on October 5. The incident reaffirmed that this turbulent region remains unstable, despite the Georgian government's efforts to normalize the situation there. The... MORE

Armenia's ambitious parliament speaker, Artur Baghdasarian, has solidified his positions this week by exploiting an issue that touches a raw nerve in Armenian society and is a major ingredient of his populist discourse. Baghdasarian, who is seen as one of President Robert Kocharian's potential successors,... MORE

Armenia's ongoing local election season is exposing the degradation of its democratic institutions as well as the weakness of its civil society. The polls, effectively boycotted by the Armenian opposition, are essentially an intra-government affair, with rival wealthy individuals seeking to further their business interests... MORE