Armenia's Velvet Revolution: Authoritarian Decline and Civil Resistance in a Multipolar World

In April 2018, Armenia experienced a peaceful uprising known as the Velvet Revolution, leading to the resignation of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan and his replacement by protest leader Nikol Pashinyan. This volume examines how a popular protest movement overcame unpromising circumstances, showcasing civil disobedience as a mass strategy in the post-Soviet space. It evaluates the causes driving the democratic turn, regime vulnerability, and factors mediating a non-violent outcome, drawing on comparative perspectives with democratic transitions across the world.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 288 pages
\n Publication date: 03 September 2020
\n Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
\n

In April 2018, Armenia witnessed a remarkable popular uprising that resulted in the resignation of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan and his replacement by protest leader Nikol Pashinyan. This uprising, known as the "Velvet Revolution," drew comparisons to Czechoslovakia's peaceful overthrow of communism 30 years prior, as it was a broad-based movement calling for clean government, democracy, and economic reform. This volume explores how a popular protest movement, showcasing civil disobedience as a mass strategy for the first time in the post-Soviet space, overcame these challenging circumstances. The contributors to this book place the events in Armenia within their national, regional, and global contexts, evaluating the causes driving Armenia's unexpected democratic turn, the reasons for regime vulnerability, and the factors that mediated a non-violent outcome. By drawing on comparative perspectives with democratic transitions across the world, this book offers essential insights for those interested in the regime dynamics, social movements, and contested politics of contemporary Eurasia. It is also a valuable resource for policy-makers and practitioners in the fields of democracy assistance and human rights, as they navigate the complexities of a rapidly multipolar world.

\n Weight: 368g\n
Dimension: 139 x 215 x 19 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781788317177\n \n