Regional Studies Center (RSC)
Organizational Description
Since our founding as an independent think tank in 2012, the Regional Studies Center (RSC) has been conducting a wide range of strategic analysis and objective research, and implementing a number of educational and policy-related projects. As a leading think tank based in Armenia, the RSC conducts research and analysis and develops policy initiatives aimed at bolstering political and economic reform and conflict resolution in the broader South Caucasus region.
Moreover, as an independent think tank, the RSC is actively engaged in the public policy process and, over the longer term, seeks to serve as a catalyst for democratic reform and sustainable economic development through the empowerment of civil society and by contributing to the formulation of public policy through innovative and objective research, analysis and policy recommendations. Our research and project activities consist of five main program areas:
- Regional analyses and assessments of political, economic and security issues in the South Caucasus, but also including Iran, Russia and Turkey;
- National security and defense reform;
- Democratization and good governance;
- Economics and sustainable development;
- Educating and empowering youth as an “agent of change.”
Regional Studies Center (RSC)
60 Aram Street, #53, 3rd floor
0010 Yerevan, Armenia
Tel: (+374) 11 70 99 69
RSC WELCOMES NEW RESEARCH ‘FELLOWS’
The Regional Studies Center (RSC) is pleased to welcome the latest group of researchers in our “RSC Resident Fellowship” program. Our new team includes four recently-selected Fellows:
RSC SENIOR ANALYST ON ARMENIAN POLITICS
RSC Senior Analyst Mikayel Zolyan, in an analytical article for the online weekly magazine EVN Report, offered a unique assessment of the domestic political situation in Armenia, with a focus on the possibility of the incumbent president continuing to serve as the head of state. The article, entitled “To Be or Not to Be Prime Minister? Serzh Sargsyan’s Dilemma and What it Means for Armenia’s Politics,” was published on 8 August.
RSC JOINS ARMENIAN PARLIAMENTARY “ANALYTICAL COUNCIL”
As an independent think tank in Yerevan, our “think tank,” the Regional Studies Center (RSC) is committed to deeper engagement in the public policy process, working with key state institutions and ministries in support of reform. And although we remain objective in our critical assessment of a wide range of strategic issues and policy priorities, we seek to only become more active in contributing to the formulation of innovative policy ideas and initiatives.
In this regard, we are pleased to join our colleagues in an effort by the Armenian parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs to form a new “Analytical Council” working group, empowered to provide analysis, proposals and assessment to the parliament over the coming five years. This is especially important to strengthen the institutional capacity of the National Assembly as Armenia moves to fully transform to a parliamentary form of government.
VOA GEORGIAN SERVICE REPORTS ON RSC SENIOR ANALYST’S ANALYSIS OF RUSSIA
In a report by Nino Dalakishvili for the Georgian Service of Voice of America, RSC Senior Analyst David Shahnazaryan’s presentation on Russian policy in the South Caucasus was cited in a special report. The VOA piece cited Shahnazaryan as saying that “for Russia, there are no red lines,” but rather, has only moved more aggressively each time there was no Western reaction. He also added that “I do not believe that Putin is the main problem. In fact, the main problem is corruption within Russian society, and the Putin that they have created. Putin is very much a product of Russian society and corruption is just soft power in the hands of Russia.”
www.amerikiskhma.com/a/security-conference-tbilisi/3820591.html
RSC SENIOR ANALYST ON IMPACT OF U.S. ATTACK ON SYRIA
Based on his remarks at the South Caucasus Security Forum 2017 in Tbilisi, RSC Senior Analyst David Shahnazaryan was quoted by Joshua Kucera in a piece for Eurasianet on the wider impact of the U. S. missile strikes on Syria, as a sign that the new Trump administration is willing to act tough against Russia. Shahnazaryan was quoted as saying that “I think what happened April 7 in Syria, the launching of the Tomahawk missiles, changed the situation very dramatically,” and adding that “the Kremlin now must be much more careful” and contending that “maybe this will slow down, a little bit, the possibility of another war” in the Caucasus.
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