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- Title
SMOKE, MIRRORS, AND THE JOKER IN THE PACK: ON TRANSITIONING TO DEMOCRACY AND THE RULE OF LAW IN POST-SOVIET ARMENIA.
- Authors
Bravo, Karen E.
- Abstract
With smoke and mirrors the entertainer-magician creates images that thrill, delight, or confound the audience. In Armenia, the smoke and mirrors of shining words and the strategic adoption of progressive legislation hide the reality of stagnant democratization and rule of law reform that reflects a creeping authoritarianism exemplified by the Russian Federation. In the deck of cards, the joker is the wild card--the unpredictable element that may trump all the other cards, and put the other players off balance--throwing, and perhaps winning, the game. Appearing and disappearing among the smoke and mirrors that project the image of Armenian democracy and rule of law reform is the joker which, to date, has blocked Armenia's transition. The joker's identity is unknown and perhaps unknowable. Is it a cadre of power holders? Is it the hidden power behind the 1998 parliamentary assassinations? Or is it the psychological mindset of powerlessness and alienation, bureaucratic paralysis and corruption lingering from the Soviet era? Is the joker the dominance of the Executive Branch enshrined in the post-Soviet Constitution, with its accompanying abasement of the Judiciary and Legislature? What of the intersection of the hopes and dreams of the Armenian Diaspora and the political power of its lobby with the reluctance of the Armenian power structure to concede power to the people?
- Subjects
ARMENIA; ARMENIAN politics &; government; DEMOCRATIZATION; AUTHORITARIANISM; LAW reform; HISTORY
- Publication
Houston Journal of International Law, 2007, Vol 29, Issue 3, p489
- ISSN
0194-1879
- Publication type
Article