In the latest session of our weekly certificate-based professional training course for students and young professionals, the Regional Studies Center (RSC) “Expert School” met on 8 November for a presentation and discussion of our analytical assessment of national stability and revolutionary unrest, including our work in applying this analytical model to assessing the outlook for stability in Armenia.
The weekly sessions are held on every Tuesday evening, from 19:00-21:00. The opening session was on Tuesday, 1 November, and will run through 20 December, culminating in a certificate award ceremony for completion of the course.
Known as the “RSC Expert School,” the program seeks to provide a unique educational opportunity in Armenia by offering a series of modern, innovative and interactive workshops, exercises and lectures.
Consisting of two parts, the full session will begin with an eight-week course devoted to Politics, Economics and Foreign Policy.
The focus on Political Science will cover such relevant topics as institutional democracy and political reform, parliamentary oversight & governance, political party formation and financing, and elections, especially in light of Armenia’s current political transition and upcoming elections.
For Economics, the focus will be on issues of corruption, political economy, including the so-called “oligarchs,” and a detailed analysis of economic reform, modernization and development. The Foreign Policy topics will center on Armenian relations with Russia and the West, Armenia’s foreign policy approach toward its immediate neighbors, as well as a deeper assessment of Armenian diplomacy.
The second course will focus on Military Security and Defense Reform, including a simulation exercise or “war game” on Nagorno-Karabakh, and an assessment of Armenian national security. The second course will commence in January 2017.
The RSC has held this certificate-based professional training course since 2010 and, as in the past, will also supplement the sessions with additional workshops, covering practical topics such as “Research, Writing and Critical Analysis” and “Effective Public Speaking & the Art of Persuasion.”
Materials:
http://regional-studies.org/images/pr/2016/november/08/Assessing_Revolutionary_Unrest_2.12.13.pdf
http://regional-studies.org/images/pr/2016/november/08/Assessing_Stability.pdf