Social Protests at the Backstage of “Velvet Revolution” in Armenia: Networks and Alliances

Peaceful mass protests in spring 2018 toppled down the newly elected Prime Minister causing government change in Armenia. Reasons were several – lack of opportunity for power rotation, unpopular ruling party associated with corruption and incompetence, public discontent towards domestic policies, growing poverty and inequality. However, to understand the success of the Armenian “Velvet Revolution” it is essential to look into the past decade that was full of constant stream of social protests rich in their strategies and repertoires if not in their scope of public mobilization through social networks and online media. Those were youth-driven and self-organized forms of civic activism in Armenia, framed as apolitical and targeted towards solving various social issues. Where did the young members of these protest groups come from? What formal and informal networks and resources did they possess? What outside groups or actors did they form alliances with? The following paper discusses networks and alliances of social protests in Armenia and their link to the “Velvet Revolution” in 2018. It also explores the learning experience, overlap of membership and repertoires of actions of social protests and the mass uprisings in spring 2018. The paper argues that there is learning experience and alliances between previous social protests and the “Velvet Revolution” in Armenia. Throughout years social protests developed informal networks and alliances between various groups of the society thus promoting active citizenship and self-organization among Armenian population. Moreover, their most successful repertoires of actions were polished and successfully used during mass protests in spring 2018. The arguments of the paper are based on the analysis of media articles and interviews as well as retrospective analysis of semi-structured in-depth interviews with key activists of social protests. The novelty of the paper is that it studies social protest networks, resources and alliances and demonstrates their patterns of development and link to the “Velvet Revolution” in Armenia. The paper serves as a starting point of comparison of networks and alliances between social protests and the “Velvet Revolution” in Armenia with those of other “Colored” and “Rose” revolutions and mass protests in Post-Soviet space. It also contributes to the broader literature of social movement networks and their patterns of interaction.