“ACNIS ReView from Yerevan”. Armenia is facing a profound crisis. A multitude of problems has accumulated—political, existential, socio-economic, scientific-educational, spiritual-cultural, and even in the realm of sports. At the root of the failures and shortcomings in all these areas lies a fundamental human flaw: irresponsibility. With few exceptions, this weakness characterizes not only the government but also the society that elects and empowers it—including individuals in positions of influence. Irresponsibility, therefore, occupies a long-standing and entrenched place in the society-government chain.
That said, this chain is not entirely made up of irresponsible individuals. Many people—both in power and throughout society—live, work, and create with a strong sense of duty and accountability. And there exists an unwritten law: in a society where the majority of citizens are responsible, an irresponsible elite cannot thrive. The public simply would not tolerate such leadership. Anyone who somehow rises to power in such an environment will, sooner or later, be cast out—right back to where they came from.
Ultimately, the source of irresponsibility—whether deliberate or not—is the society itself, especially the irresponsible electorate and, in particular, its uneducated, self-interested, and self-centered elements, for whom the concept of responsibility is foreign. In “Civilization and Its Discontents,” Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud offered a poignant observation: “Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and responsibility is frightening to most people.” His insight offers a deep look into the human psyche. Thus, an irresponsible society, with its own careless hand, brings to power an irresponsible leadership that destroys and corrupts the very environment that gave birth to it.
In other words, we are witnessing this reality today in the Republic of Armenia: irresponsible, dishonest, and unaccountable authorities whose primary concern is clinging to power—so much so that they are even willing to commit treachery to maintain their positions. These are leaders capable of making secret deals with the enemy behind the backs of the very people who elected them. They have turned citizens’ lives into a nightmare, plunging the country into dispossession, exploitation, chaos, and abandonment. Who will answer for all this? No one knows. A truly responsible high-ranking official must first respect the weight of his own words, and only then can he demand the same from his subordinates.
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Tragically, responsibility—as a conscious expression of human honor and dignity—is most absent in the highest office of power in our country. Let us recall the grand promises made during the 2018 parliamentary snap election campaign. He vowed to allocate an additional $2.5 billion over five years to modernize the Armed Forces—funds supposedly to be seized from “plunderers.” He pledged to return stolen assets, build democracy, eliminate corruption, and more. Yet he failed to act—if anything, he took the country in the exact opposite direction: decline, destruction, waste, and mismanagement…
By the way, he also made ambitious promises about the distant future—claiming that by 2050, Armenia’s population would reach 5 million and that the national football team would become world and Olympic champions. In reality, just five years later, the population has decreased by approximately 500,000. As for football, the embarrassing results of the last two UEFA Nations League matches between Georgia and Armenia—an aggregate score of 9:1 in favor of the neighboring team—speak for themselves. When we say Pashinyan’s leadership is regressing, we mean this—not the electoral defeats in Gyumri and Parakar, which, ironically, might be considered victories by comparison.
The Armenian Center for National and International Studies