The Armenian anomaly: Toward an interdisciplinary interpretation

The popular revolt of Spring 2018, which ended the regime of post-Soviet restoration in Armenia, is analyzed in two historical perspectives: the longue durée of Armenian nation-making and the contemporary socio-political history of conjuncture, marked since the 1960s by the cumulative learning of civic self-organizing in a succession of movements. Furthermore, the inordinate ethno-social cohesiveness of Armenians as genocide survivors, their famed labor and entrepreneurial skills, and the globally connected diaspora suggest the economic model of a developmental state similar to Israel and Ireland. If the fledgling revolutionary regime of 2018 survives the challenges of likely foreign intervention and consolidates itself into an accountable and agile state bureaucracy, this revolution may yet lead to rapid economic growth based on post-industrial activities, to which the landlocked Armenia may have no alternative.