The Third Republic of Armenia: Statehood, Politics, and Contemporary History
What to master
Know the transition to independence: the 1991 referendum and declaration of independence from the USSR, the first post-Soviet years under Levon Ter-Petrosyan, and the First Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988–1994) ending in a ceasefire that left Armenian forces in control of Karabakh and surrounding districts. Understand the political sequence of presidencies (Ter-Petrosyan, Robert Kocharyan, Serzh Sargsyan, Armen Sarkissian, Vahagn Khachaturyan) and the 2015 constitutional referendum shifting from a presidential to a parliamentary system, followed by the 2018 "Velvet Revolution" under Nikol Pashinyan. Know the 2020 Second Karabakh War and the November 2020 trilateral ceasefire statement, the 2023 Azerbaijani takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh and the exodus of its Armenian population, and the 2024 border delimitation process. Understand Armenia's membership in the CSTO and EAEU, its relations with Russia, the EU, and Turkey (no diplomatic relations; 2009 Zurich protocols unratified).
Traps
Do not confuse the 2015 constitutional change with the 2018 revolution-different mechanisms (referendum vs. mass protest). Do not date the 2020 war ceasefire to a peace treaty; it was a ceasefire statement. Do not assume CSTO membership equals automatic security guarantees.
Rule of thumb
Anchor contemporary politics to constitutional form (parliamentary since 2015) and to the Karabakh trajectory (1988–1994, 2020, 2023).
Worked example
Asked what changed in 2018, answer: a mass protest movement brought Pashinyan to power through constitutional procedures, not a coup, within the parliamentary system established in 2015.