Polarization, and party politics in post-revolutionary and post-war Armenia

The primary purpose of this article is to identify and describe political polarization in Armenia, the factors that have contributed to its development and modes of its manifestation. To this end, on the one hand, we seek to understand the nature, scale, and causes of polarization, including using the methods of content analysis and public surveys, and, on the other hand, with the help of in-depth interviews, to understand the positions of the ruling and opposition parties regarding this phenomenon. In-depth interviews also help us understand the (lack of) readiness, intention and resources among the Armenian political parties to overcome political split and polarization. The article also explains the actual and potential role of foreign and international organizations in supporting the institutionalization of political parties and overcoming political polarization. Our findings suggest support for the correlation between polarization and democratic decline, particulalry due to decline of trust, mutual securitization of poles that normalizes each others' illebaeral treatment and partisan willingness of voters to tolerate wrongdoings of the party they support.