Only the upcoming developments will show what messages the US State Secretary Hillary Clinton has brought to Serzh Sargsyan. Minutes before Clinton’s visit, the US Embassy in Armenia gave away awards to select representatives of the civil society. Afterwards, Clinton made a short speech, in which she once again signified the role of the civil society in the democratization process. Then she went to meet with the Armenian President Serzh Sarsgyan. And as expected, the latter named Sargsyan as a “wonderful leader” in the official statement of the meeting. If we briefly summarize the reaction and attitude of the US government then we can say that the latter considers the RA government a partner. The US simultaneously encourages the development of civil society with the efforts of the government. This, in fact, is the policy that the US consistently implements in relation to Armenia. The activation of the civil society during the past years can really be considered one of the top achievements of Armenia. However, on the other hand, the activities of the civil society and civic groups are being discussed in a slightly different prism. She mostly means the necessity of making politics “civil.” This idea has been consistently developed by various analysts, political scientists, publicists and its point is to make the politicians, who are so isolated from citizens, individuals, become more public and follow civil movements and transform the demands of the civil society. Having not depreciating the role of the civil society, by once again signifying their role, I however think that it is unacceptable to substitute the political elements with civil ones. This is what’s hidden in the minds of the authors of this idea. Yes, perhaps in Armenia the political system is the least developed in Armenia which creates the main reasons of the current degraded situation. Moreover, the more unclear the political system becomes the more immersed the parties get in the swamp. Moreover, the current political situation of Armenia mostly works in favor of the government because on the other hand, otherwise they couldn’t do what they did on May 6 elections. So besides a developed civil society Armenia needs a normal political system like water. At this moment, we may say that the government needs this least. Of course, on these days such allegations are not popular but at least yesterday the civil society activists have been receiving awards.
