Armenian Civil Society: It is Not All about NGOs

Abstract

For the past two decades, Armenian civil society was largely equated with the NGO sector. International development organizations, public officials, scholars and the few informed among the general public saw NGOs as the core element of Armenian civil society. The NGO sector is by now fairly developed and institutionalised, but it is detached from the broader Armenian society, remaining a post-communist civil society in that sense. However, recently a new actor has entered the arena of civil society and made its presence very visible. The socalled “civic initiatives” are on the rise since around 2007, and have already registered a number of successes in impacting government decisions, despite the small numbers of people involved. Armenian civil society is no more simply about NGOs, though NGOs unquestionably remain a very important component of civil society.