Civic Activism as a Novel Component of Armenian Civil Society

More documents

Recommendations

Info

RQ.2: How do NGOs and activists interact? RQ.3: How are NGOs and activists influenced by the overall political culture in the country? The research project combines quantitative and qualitative data analysis, drawing on existing data, and collects and analyses primary data. The study consists of the following components: secondary data analysis, case studies of civic initiatives, interviews, and focus group discussions with activists, NGO leaders, NGO staff, and representatives of the general public. 3.1. Secondary Data Analysis In terms of available survey data, this research uses data from the following surveys: the World Values Survey (third wave, 1995-1998, and sixth wave, 2010-2014); the Caucasus Barometer (2008-2013); Alternative Resources in Media 2011 and 2013; and the CIVICUS Civil Society Index survey 2014. All of these surveys were based on nationwide representative samples of adult residents of the RA. 1 The World Values Survey (WVS) is a global research project that includes a broad range of socio-cultural and political topics. The survey is conducted periodically by local survey organisations or scholarly teams in close cooperation with and under the supervision of the WVS Association. 2 The analysis in this publication is based on data from the third (1995-1998) and the sixth (2010-2014) waves of WVS because these are the only two waves that included Armenia. The specific years that the WVS data were collected in Armenia were 1997 for the third wave and 2011 for the sixth wave. The Caucasus Barometer (CB) is an annual nationwide representative survey that has been conducted by the Caucasus Research Resource Centres (CRRC) in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia since 2008. Two nationwide representative surveys conducted by CRRC-Armenia in 2011 and 2013, called Alternative Resources in Media (ARMedia), focus specifically on media consumption patterns and media perceptions. 3 The CIVICUS Civil Society Index (CSI) is a participatory action-research project assessing the state of civil society in countries around the world. The CSI is initiated and implemented by local partner organisations, in partnership with the CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation. 4 The CSI consists of a number of assessment tools, including a nationwide representative population survey. Counterpart International Armenia was the local implementing partner of the survey. The database was requested directly from Counterpart. 1 ARMedia included younger respondents aged 15+; the WVS includes respondents aged 17+. 2 Further information on the WVS is available at: http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs.jsp 3 Further information on the CRRC and the CB is available at: http://www.crrccenters.org. Information about CRRC-Armenia and the ARMedia study is available at: http://www.crrc.am 4 Further information is available at: http://civicus.org/index.php/en/ 19
3.2. Case Studies To move from the general political culture and climate into specific settings and realities of civic activism in Armenia, the study employed the case study method, following Tilly and Tarrow’s (2015) recommendation of carefully describing an episode of contention and its settings as the pre-requisite of analysis. The aim was to create a detailed ‘thick description’ of the main actors, strategies, NGO involvement, interaction patterns and use of social media. The case studies also helped to identify key interviewees and focus group participants, as well as provide insights into topics and questions for subsequent discussions. The case study method was particularly well-suited for our purposes; one of its strengths is that it allows examining a phenomenon in its real life context, particularly when the boundaries between the phenomenon and the context are not very clear (McNabb 2004). Within each case, we examine processes, actors, decisions and organisations. The following five civic initiatives (in chronological order of the year in which they began) were selected for the case study: 1. Save Teghut Civic Initiative (Teghut hereafter): 2007 – on-going; 2. Stop Changes in Maternity Leave Law (Maternity Leave hereafter): 2010, restarted in 2014; 3. Dem Em (I am against): 2013; 4. Let’s Preserve the Afrikyan Club Building (Afrikyan hereafter): 2014; 5. Electric Yerevan: 2015. In selecting the cases of civic activism in Armenia, we sought to maximise diversity in terms of scope, issues, outcomes and importance for the broader context of civic activism in Armenia. The Teghut case is often considered a landmark: the oldest on-going environmental camping that continues despite failing to achieve its prime objective, as will be described in Chapter V. It is a unique case of persistence in the face of formidable challenges. The Maternity Leave case was selected because it has an explicit gender dimension: one of the important overall elements of the study. It is also an interesting case of an initiative that was re-started as the need arose. Maternity Leave is also a success case. The Afrikyan case exemplifies a shortlived, failed initiative, despite employing a variety of creative techniques. There are certainly lessons to be learned from that initiative. Dem Em was the largest civic initiative (in terms of the number of people involved) that had made the biggest political splash at the outset of our study. It is also a curious case in terms of outcomes: some characterise it as an unprecedented success, while others argue that its achievements are modest and temporary at best. Electric Yerevan occurred six months into the study. It gave us an opportunity to observe, first-hand, the unfolding events. It quickly overshadowed Dem Em both in terms of the number of people involved and political resonance. Not including it would have been a lost opportunity. Data for each case were collected though the analysis of news reports, documents, publications, previous studies, and information available through social media. The understanding of the cases was further enhanced through interviews and focus group discussions with event participants, as described in the next section. It was a two-way process: collecting 20
Page 1 and 2: Civic Activism as a Novel Component
Page 3 and 4: The present study was conducted wit
Page 5 and 6: 5.1. Case Studies .................
Page 7 and 8: List of Abbreviations ARMedia CB CS
Page 9 and 10: A note of caution is in order here.
Page 11 and 12: demonstrated that voluntary associa
Page 13 and 14: volunteering by Swedish citizens, T
Page 15 and 16: communication tools lies mainly in
Page 17 and 18: 2.1. The NGO Sector The NGO sector
Page 19: mentioning a few key points here to
Page 23 and 24: Focus groups and interviews were vo
Page 25 and 26: explore the overall political cultu
Page 27 and 28: (signing a petition, joining in boy
Page 29 and 30: activists are being targeted throug
Page 31 and 32: eport higher levels of trust in onl
Page 33 and 34: while actual and potential activist
Page 35 and 36: Some segments of society perceive t
Page 37 and 38: efforts to save the waterfall mean
Page 39 and 40: In March 2010, Mariam Sukhudyan was
Page 41 and 42: like a “spontaneous volcano” th
Page 43 and 44: concerning the constitutionality of
Page 45 and 46: in the North). The Twitter account
Page 47 and 48: On 13 June 2014, activists started
Page 49 and 50: However Bagiyan (2015) reports that
Page 51 and 52: weddings took place on Baghramyan,
Page 53 and 54: Voch Talanin (No to Plunder) Facebo
Page 55 and 56: VI. Civic Initiatives and NGOs Alth
Page 57 and 58: Table 3. NGO involvement in civic a
Page 59 and 60: to seek out those organisations tha
Page 61 and 62: increase of feeling of loneliness.
Page 63 and 64: people, change their thinking, risk
Page 65 and 66: street, activism can take different
Page 67 and 68: public activism (because, in a true
Page 69 and 70: lack of political will on the part
Page 71 and 72:
“As a non-participant to any prot
Page 73 and 74:
8.2. Civic Initiatives in Armenia T
Page 75 and 76:
8.2.2. Why Do Civic Initiatives Fai
Page 77 and 78:
IX. Perceptions 9.1. Activist Perce
Page 79 and 80:
At times, the public regards activi
Page 81 and 82:
and not just the public at large, h
Page 83 and 84:
The mother of another activist orig
Page 85 and 86:
easons. There are some groups of pe
Page 87 and 88:
X. Other Issues -- In Armenia, acti
Page 89 and 90:
the society to become an equal part
Page 91 and 92:
Conclusion For the past two decades
Page 93 and 94:
is not the point we are attempting
Page 95 and 96:
References Aarhus Convention Compli
Page 97 and 98:
Flanagan, Constance A. 2004. “Vol
Page 99 and 100:
McAdam, Doug, John D. McCarthy, and
Page 101 and 102:
Tilly, Charles, and Sidney Tarrow.
Page 103 and 104:
Appendix 2 Focus Group Guide for NG
Page 105 and 106:
Appendix 4 Interview Guide for Civi
Page 107 and 108:
Appendix 6 Qualitative Data Indexin
show all

Civic Activism as a Novel Component of Armenian Civil Society

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?