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 BRIEFS VISITING EU DELEGATION
At the invitation of Ambassador Piotr Antoni Świtalski, the Head of Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Armenia, Regional Studies Center (RSC) Director Richard Giragosian met on 3 February with a visiting EU delegation led by Christian Danielsson, the Director General of Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), Lawrence Meredith, the Director of Neighbourhood East (NEAR.C) and Luc Devigne, Director for Russia, Eastern partnership, Central Asia, Regional Cooperation and OSCE (EEAS). Other participants included Hoa-Binh Adjemian, the Head of Cooperation Section, Gregory Tsouris, the Deputy Head of Cooperation, and Andrea Chalupova, Political Officer, from the EU Delegation to Armenia.
RSC IN NEW “EASTERN PARTNERSHIP” COLLABORATIVE PROJECT
The Regional Studies Center (RSC) is pleased to serve as the Armenia partner in a new, one-year collaborative project entitled, “EaP Think Bridge,” which serves as a platform to uniting expert communities in the countries of the Eastern Partnership region to “fill the gap” in distributing analytical products for stakeholders, including a new bilingual English- and Russian-language monthly publication of analysis and commentary from each of the six Eastern Partnership countries.
RSC AND GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY IN DOHA
As part of a broader research project for the Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University in Doha, Qatar, RSC Director Richard Giragosian was a contributor to an edited book entitled, “The Great Game in West Asia: Iran, Turkey and the South Caucasus,” which will be published in 2017 by Oxford University Press/Hurst. The topic of Giragosian’s contribution to the book focused on the political economy of Armenia, in a chapter entitled, “The Armenian Imperative: Confronting and Containing Oligarchs.”
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE REPORT ON GEOPOLITICS IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS
RSC Director Richard Giragosian participated in a conference sponsored by Carnegie Corporation of New York at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Washington, DC, entitled, “The New Geopolitics of the South Caucasus: Prospects for Regional Cooperation and Conflict Resolution.” Under the direction of Dr. Shireen Hunter, the conference brought together experts from the region, including from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Russia and Turkey, as well as from the European Union, with additional analytical support from several former U.S. ambassadors and government officials.
RSC MONTHLY CLOSED BRIEFING
The Regional Studies Center (RSC) held its latest in a series of closed monthly briefings on Thursday, 26 January, with presentations by RSC Director Richard Giragosian and Senior Analyst David Shahnazaryan focusing on three main areas:
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