Who is the government of Armenia accoutable to?

[Kasa]

Re: Who is the government of Armenia accoutable to?

A farmer had two sons .
One son goes abroad to work the other stays at home to look after the farm
The father dies.
The son who stayed at home says I am living here so I can do what I like including sell the farm.
NOW, does the other son have any rights to raise objections?

Although your allegory is kinda compelling and may apply in a strange way, but I don't think is enough to explain the complexity of this issue. After all, we are talking about institutions that operate within a society, we are talking about a group of people and a nation as opposed to members of a family, we are talking about the principals and the philosophy of citizenship and elected governing body, etc.

So I don't think it is as simple as your allegory but I have to say your story does hold a strange truthfulness that may only apply to Armenian collective psyche (I am thinking of Carl Jung's usage of the term "collective memory" or "collective unconscious").

[londontsi]

Re: Who is the government of Armenia accoutable to?

Although your allegory is kinda compelling and may apply in a strange way, but I don't think is enough to explain the complexity of this issue. After all, we are talking about institutions that operate within a society, we are talking about a group of people and a nation as opposed to members of a family, we are talking about the principals and the philosophy of citizenship and elected governing body, etc.

So I don't think it is as simple as your allegory but I have to say your story does hold a strange truthfulness that may only apply to Armenian collective psyche (I am thinking of Carl Jung's usage of the term "collective memory" or "collective unconscious").

I agree with you that my example is too simplistic especially when dealing with society as a whole, citizens rights and obligations etc.
It was meant to be an opening gambit.

The question is who is the government of Armenia accountable to.

The answer has to be, same as in any (democratic) country it is accountable to its own people.

The next question is, am I (the Diaspora) one of its people?

I strongly think I am.

Luckily the Government of Armenia also thinks that way.
The proof is the creation of the Minister for the Diaspora.

So the the question has to be not whether its accountable or not but by how much, considering the legal status of the Diaspora within Armenia.

[Haykakan]

Re: Who is the government of Armenia accoutable to?

I wont argue against the diasporans having a status of some sort in Armenia but it cannot come close to that of a full citizen. The citizen that lives in Armenia faces the consequences of the decisions made by the countries leaders thus he should be the one deciding who those leaders are not the diasporans. We need to bring the diaspora and the citizens of Armenia closer togather but not at the expence of those living there now. They have enoughf to worry about as is.

[Catharsis]

Re: Who is the government of Armenia accoutable to?

I wont argue against the diasporans having a status of some sort in Armenia but it cannot come close to that of a full citizen. The citizen that lives in Armenia faces the consequences of the decisions made by the countries leaders thus he should be the one deciding who those leaders are not the diasporans. We need to bring the diaspora and the citizens of Armenia closer togather but not at the expence of those living there now. They have enoughf to worry about as is.

We can have unity when the voice of the Diaspora is also counted. On individual basis, Diasporans have done more for individual Armenian living in Armenia, than vice versa. Most of the major roads that are used in RA and Artsakh have been erected with Diasporan funds. This is just one example and I can site many. Once again Diasporans would invest heavily and repatriation will begin to take stronger root if individual Armenian in Armenia feels protected by law. We already have dual citizenship introduced which was a step into right direction. The heavier challenge is how do you get rid of - endless greed - something that is a negative element for nation building no matter how you look at it.

[Armanen]

Re: Who is the government of Armenia accoutable to?

I really think the RA government needs to follow through with the plan to establish a Pan-Armenian bank. There are many wealthy Armenians who have also donated to Armenian causes, if they were to put some money into the Pan-Armenian bank it would be very capitalized bank very quickly. In turn the bank could provide very low or even no interest loans to qualified people of Armenia (includes Artsakh). This concept would really be the 'teach a man to fish' rather than 'give a man a fish'.

[Haykakan]

Re: Who is the government of Armenia accoutable to?

We can have unity when the voice of the Diaspora is also counted. On individual basis, Diasporans have done more for individual Armenian living in Armenia, than vice versa. Most of the major roads that are used in RA and Artsakh have been erected with Diasporan funds. This is just one example and I can site many. Once again Diasporans would invest heavily and repatriation will begin to take stronger root if individual Armenian in Armenia feels protected by law. We already have dual citizenship introduced which was a step into right direction. The heavier challenge is how do you get rid of - endless greed - something that is a negative element for nation building no matter how you look at it.

Greed has been around since the begining of humanity and will be around long after we are gone. It never goes away and never will. The reason things improve is not because the greedy stop being greedy but because they realize that if everyone else gets richer they will get even more rich. The diasporans can do a lot for Armenia but nothing they do will be as important as establishing a personal relationship with the homeland and its people. Personal bonds are stronger then any other and will benefit both the country and the diasporans in ways they cant even imagine yet.

[Kasa]

Re: Who is the government of Armenia accoutable to?

londontsi, you make good points.

I wish there was some kind of conference or a compilation of papers by non-partisan scholars, thinkers, intellectuals, etc so this issue is examined, analyzed and hopefully a satisfying answer is found, a satisfying answer for the time being at least. But it has to be objective, non-partisan effort in order to be of any value. If it is the usual party lines that are repeated then it's not worth anything and I could care less.