Market fundamentalism, economic hardship and social protest in Armenia. (A critical perspective of the polarization of Armenian politics)

Abstract

March 1, 2008 seemed to mark a turning point in Armenian politics. The violent protest against the widely claimed fraud during the February 19, 2008 presidential elections by the followers of the former President Levon Ter Petrosian, the main contender against the official winner of the ballot, ex-PM Serge Sargsyan, met with even harsher repression by the police forces resulting to the death of 10 people and the arrest of more than a hundred others. The event highlighted a deep political polarization in Armenian society that seemed the consequence of the decision of Ter Petrosian to emerge from his decade-long silence and run as a presidential candidate. Regardless of the reasons behind this decision, what raises interest, however, is his capacity to convince and mobilize 21% of the voters according to the official figures of the elections. This paper takes a critical look into the deep causes of the political polarization in Armenia, which, as the argument goes, reflects a distorted social protest. I expand Albert Hirschman’s concept of “voice, exit and loyalty” to explain the anger vote, and highlight the structural and political reasons for the lack of any credible proposal for change that addresses society’s real demands for social justice.