An interview with Arman Grigoryan, the Representative of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
– Roughly two years ago, you predicted in an interview given to Aravot that the ANC would eventually become a center-leftist force, in which social democratic ideology will be dominant. Your prediction got ambiguous responses and assessments. In particular, some analysts and politicians started to claim that the ANC had given up on liberalism. And recently a few figures and political organizations have left the ANC for that reason. Would you like to respond to those statements and go into detail about what you mean by saying social democratic ideology and what is the difference between that ideology and liberalism?
– Let me first say that the term “liberalism” refers to not one, but two doctrines – one is economic, the other is political. As a political doctrine, it implies democratic governance, ensuring human rights and freedoms, ruling out different kinds of discriminations and complete separation of religion from the state. There is no difference between liberals and socialists here. As an economic doctrine, liberalism claims that the state should be least involved in the economy, the market is a self-governed system and if such a market is in effect, social outcomes are fair and optimal. There are different opinions on this issue. Social democrats claim that the self-governed market is actually not a stable system and it cannot ensure optimal outcomes socially. For example, if there are no laws against monopolies, self-regulated market will consist of monopolies etc. They also think that the state should perform a function of redistribution certainly using tax mechanisms and not expropriation, otherwise, the concentration of wealth is unavoidable, which, in turn, usually leads to the concentration of power in the hands of the elite with rather undesirable consequences for democratic governance. In the end, social democrats are for welfare state, which will guarantee welfare and equal opportunities for socially vulnerable people. It ought to be mentioned, though, that the sharp edges of these two doctrines have been softened as the time went by, but the differences continue to be real and tangible.
– What your prediction that the social democratic ideology will become dominant in the ANC and the ANC will become a center-leftist force was based on? Do you think that the prediction has proved correct?
Read also
– My prediction was based on the examination of movements like ours, as well as a very simple observation – the social basis of the Congress are our ordinary citizens, small businesses and non-bureaucratic intelligentsia who are tired of exploitation and corruption. They think of the current system as unfair and intolerable and demand its fundamental change. That change would be impossible, if the Congress just came to power and was satisfied by just establishing the rule of law and conducting free elections. The Congress would be necessarily compelled to represent the interests of that basis, which implies fundamental reforms in the social sphere, tax system, concerning equal opportunities etc. All that would be impossible to do with a liberalist terminology and ideology of limiting the state’s role, least state involvement in the economy, low taxes for everyone and self-regulated market. By the way, the social-economic programs published by the Congress, including the program One Hundred Steps, reflect that to a certain extent, even if they are not fully social democratic programs.
Nelly GRIGORYAN
