Last week leader of Russia Vladimir Putin said a few unpleasant things about the Western democracies, obviously hinting at the fact that the reason for all crises there are free political regimes. According to the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, that is the reason why Greece and Portugal are deep in debt, the problems grow in France, there is instability in Italy, not to mention the United States where the two parties in the parliament cannot agree with each other. The conclusion is obvious – one party, United Russia, has to win the upcoming Duma election with a big margin and it should not agree with anyone, but only command “villains, this way and villains, that way”. Putin deliberately passes over one thing – the population in the above-mentioned “undergoing crisis” countries lives 5-10 times better than in “stable” Russia and even if the only criterion for “country’s success” is that, authoritarian regime has no advantage over democracy. Authoritarianism may be “needed” for a short while in exceptional cases when there are rapid systemic economic changes. However, whether it is good or bad that period in the post-Soviet countries was in 1990s and it will not happen in the near future. Whether they want it or not, the Western governments must consider the will of their peoples, even in the cases when (as it probably is in Greece) they have to undergo austerity measures. Therefore, the conviction of Vladimir Putin and his supporters that Russia needs the ruling bureaucracy’s overwhelming victory in the Duma election as the breath of life is nothing else, but a longing for the establishment’s reproduction. By the way, from the historic perspective I am not sure that the strict limitations of democratic freedoms will “rescue” Russia, but at the end of the day it’s the concern of Russians.

In Armenia we have an opportunity to create a much freer regime – it is not necessary at all to copy what is done in Russia (as well as in other countries) and being more advanced in terms of democracy, will not threaten friendly relations with the strategic partner. Let us be frank – the majority of our population do not care for those issues, people just want to live better. They also long for some abstract “justice”, why abstract, because they want others to treat them justly and they will treat others as they wish. However, all that “doesn’t void” the following simple logical chain – real political competition leads to economic competition (it is quite limited in Armenia) that eventually leads to increasing prosperity. Therefore, democracy is not a whim adopted from the West, it is just a pragmatic precondition when our country is concerned.

ARAM ABRAHAMYAN

Let us not copy Russia

Last week leader of Russia Vladimir Putin said a few unpleasant things about the Western democracies, obviously hinting at the fact that the reason for all crises there are free political regimes. According to the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, that is the reason why Greece and Portugal are deep in debt, the problems grow in France, there is instability in Italy, not to mention the United States where the two parties in the parliament cannot agree with each other. The conclusion is obvious – one party, United Russia, has to win the upcoming Duma election with a big margin and it should not agree with anyone, but only command “villains, this way and villains, that way”. Putin deliberately passes over one thing – the population in the above-mentioned “undergoing crisis” countries lives 5-10 times better than in “stable” Russia and even if the only criterion for “country’s success” is that, authoritarian regime has no advantage over democracy. Authoritarianism may be “needed” for a short while in exceptional cases when there are rapid systemic economic changes. However, whether it is good or bad that period in the post-Soviet countries was in 1990s and it will not happen in the near future. Whether they want it or not, the Western governments must consider the will of their peoples, even in the cases when (as it probably is in Greece) they have to undergo austerity measures. Therefore, the conviction of Vladimir Putin and his supporters that Russia needs the ruling bureaucracy’s overwhelming victory in the Duma election as the breath of life is nothing else, but a longing for the establishment’s reproduction. By the way, from the historic perspective I am not sure that the strict limitations of democratic freedoms will “rescue” Russia, but at the end of the day it’s the concern of Russians.

In Armenia we have an opportunity to create a much freer regime – it is not necessary at all to copy what is done in Russia (as well as in other countries) and being more advanced in terms of democracy, will not threaten friendly relations with the strategic partner. Let us be frank – the majority of our population do not care for those issues, people just want to live better. They also long for some abstract “justice”, why abstract, because they want others to treat them justly and they will treat others as they wish. However, all that “doesn’t void” the following simple logical chain – real political competition leads to economic competition (it is quite limited in Armenia) that eventually leads to increasing prosperity. Therefore, democracy is not a whim adopted from the West, it is just a pragmatic precondition when our country is concerned.

ARAM ABRAHAMYAN