Panel at Harvard to Look at “Democratization in Armenia and Authoritarianism Worldwide”

BOSTON — A panel discussion entitled “A Trend or an Exception? Democratization in Armenia and Authoritarianism Worldwide,” will take place at Harvard University’s Fong Auditorium (Boylston Hall), on Tuesday, April 30, 2019, at 7:30 p.m.

The panel will be moderated by Dr. Lisa Gulesserian, Lecturer on Armenian in the Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations, Harvard University, and will feature a panel including Anna Ohanyan (Stonehill College), Dimitri Sotiropoulos (Visiting Scholar, Center for European Studies, Harvard), and Valerie Sperling (Clark University).

The event is organized by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) / Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Series on Contemporary Armenian Issues, with the co-sponsorship of AGBU-YP Boston, and the Harvard Armenian Students Association.

At a time when there is great concern over the apparent decline of liberal democracy around the world, in 2018 Armenia seemed to be a notable exception and was hailed as “badly needed good news for democracy” by the Washington Post. As the one-year anniversary of the Velvet Revolution approaches, is the news still good? Is Armenia an outlier, an exceptional case in a world where government-by-strong-man increasingly is the model? What can be learned from the examples of other states where democracy is in peril? Join with a panel of distinguished scholars to discuss these and other issues relating to democracy and authoritarianism in Armenia and around the world.

This event is free and open to the public.  A reception and refreshments will immediately follow the program and question-and-answer session

For more information about this program, contact NAASR at 617-489-1610 or hq@naasr.org.