Armenia's Foreign Policy Priorities: Are There Any Major Changes Following the Spring 2018 Political Transformation?

Abstract

For decades after independence, Armenia's foreign policy emphasized complementarity and prioritized national interests in its dealings with external actors. Nikol Pashinyan's foreign policy will be subject to the established priorities partially following previous trends in Armenian foreign policy. That means that Armenia will maintain strategic relations with Russia, but will also continue and expand its interactions with the EU, the US, and regional players. Security threats associated with the unresolved Nagorno Karabakh conflict and complex relations with Turkey will also remain key challenges for the current Armenian government. Under an unchanged regional power configuration and remaining challenges, Armenian foreign policy might become more proactive but is likely to rather retain its main directions and features. However, under unstable regional security politics, which is somehow dependent on (and sometime easily manipulated by) external actors and dynamics, changes may come about in the regional geopolitical environment that might affect Armenia.