As the 2024 presidential elections approach, what will U.S. foreign policy hold for Armenia if Kamala Harris wins? Qualifying the body of information on Harris and her team's foreign policy orientations, Nerses Kopalyan provides an in-depth profile of how a Harris Administration will impact Armenia and the region.

There has been extensive debate about Washington’s strategic policy goals and growing investment in Armenia's security architecture. To understand the strategic framework guiding this engagement, the concept of “defense diplomacy” is introduced in this month’s security report.

A cursory review of public discourse and limited research on Armenia's security environment reveals a “levels of analysis” problem. This month’s security report introduces Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) to alleviate this serious analytical shortcoming.

The institutional mechanisms, economic arrangements, and social power networks that Catholicos Garegin II constructed and relied on are incompatible with Armenia’s democratic project and the values of the Church as a sacred institution, writes Nerses Kopalyan.

Armenia must utilize the concept of de-hybridization to mitigate Azerbaijan’s non-linear warfare, which ranges from kinetic diplomacy to complex hybrid operations. Nerses Kopalyan explains what a strategy of de-hybridization for Armenia should look like.

In order for Armenia to mitigate, anticipate, and deter Azerbaijan's threats and potential attacks, it must understand and qualify the mechanisms that define the Aliyev regime’s propensity for bellicosity, and gauge its “coercive credibility”.

In Armenia, establishing a Western pivot was crucial to achieve an independent foreign policy and enhance security capabilities, paving the way for diversification in foreign and security relations. This process involves pivoting first, diversifying, and only then adopting hedging strategies.

The latest survey by the International Republican Institute, conducted in December 2023, reveals the consolidation of public distrust in Russia, strong support for the Government’s pivot toward the West, and a growing sophistication in the Armenian public’s understanding of its complex security concerns.

As Armenia proceeds to diversify its access to armaments and advanced weapons systems, the development of a comprehensive, well-structured, and expert-driven procurement program will strengthen Armenia’s initiatives and support the strengthening and democratization of its defense sector.

Noting the instrumentalization of warfare as the dominant and preferred strategic tool of the Aliyev regime, a rationalist explanation of war is introduced in this month's security briefing to address the causal mechanisms shaping Aliyev’s incentives for being conflict-prone.