Authors

Aude Merlin¹; Taline Papazian²;  ¹ UNIVERSITÉ LIBRE DE BRUXELLES, Belgium;  ² Sciences Po Aix, France

Discussion

This presentation is part of an ongoing research project. We propose a qualitative sociological analysis of combatant engagement in Armenia, focusing on non-state defense actors. This research, begun in October 2021, is the second phase of a study on the evolution of the issues and practices of combatant engagement from one war to the next, produced in 2019. A first phase of research, carried out after the 4-Day War of 2016, had enabled us to approach a state of alert in certain parts of Armenian society. Within a part of the social body, this habitus of state of alert was not simply a dormant, inactive disposition, but at least an incorporated habitus, even put into practice. This habitus could then be translated into expressions as diverse as art, professional military education or the creation of associations whose purpose was to teach paramilitary skills to citizens. We hypothesize that there has been a qualitative leap since the end of the war in 2020, and a series of regular armed agressions, sometimes limited, sometimes on a large scale, have taken place since then: May 2021, November 2021 and September 2022 against Armenia; March 2021, July 2022, December 2022 against the Nagorno-Karabakh region, with the blockade of the region finally leading to a blitzkrieg on September 19-20, 2023, and the ethnic cleansing of its Armenian population.

In this second phase of research, we focus on the expressions and practices of 'state of alert' in the Armenian associative milieu after the massive military defeat of November 2020. According to our hypothesis, some of the actors in this milieu are in the process of constituting an autonomous civil defense field. Their action is also present in the wider transformation of national security in Armenia at doctrinal and legislative levels. This research is still continuing in October 2023, at the time of submission of the present proposal. It is taking place against an ongoing backdrop of more or less intense acts of war on the part of Azerbaijan, sometimes targeting the Nagorno-Karabakh region (up to September 2023) and sometimes the Republic of Armenia. How do these associations put their vigilance into practice? While a wide variety of associations, both in terms of purpose and size, could be associated with the expression "state of alert" (mountaineering associations as a leisure and tourist activity, but also as a skill that can be activated in the event of war; art therapy associations for the care of veterans and the families of victims, etc.), the associations and individuals we are particularly interested in are those from the "military-patriotic" milieu, of which VOMA, a 'club to stay alive", is the best-known example in Armenian society. What do the leaders of these associations say about their actions (self-discourse)? For the post-Soviet period, these associations came into being immediately after the end of the 1st Nagorno-Karabakh war (1994), in the form of veterans' associations. VOMA, on the other hand, was created in the midst of a period of "neither war, nor peace", in the early 2010s. VOMA does not define itself as a veterans' association (even though its founder is a veteran of several wars and a former special services operative), but as an educational association. In the words of its founder, VOMA's role is to compensate for what are perceived as the inadequacies of the state apparatus in relation to the reality of the war situation. Are these associations taking action to change or bring about change in their sector of activity (defense)? Increasingly since 2020, certain associations in this field have been distinguishing themselves by their public and ongoing activity not only towards society, but also towards government institutions, with whom they play the role of interest and pressure groups. Our investigations are based on participant observation on the premises of these associations and on several dozen qualitative interviews conducted in Armenia since November 2020 and continuing to date (latest field trip in October 2023). Our object of study is limited in size - only a small minority of Armenian society is involved in this movement - but we believe it is a heuristic tool for grasping the profound social and political transformations at work.