Abstract
This chapter acknowledges the potential significance of recent political change in Armenia, specifically the impact of the Velvet Revolution of Spring 2018 on the lives of students and graduates. Considering the timeframe in which our fieldwork was conducted, July–September 2018, we were able to obtain some insight into the near immediate reactions of our interviewees, including the prospects for an enhancement of labour market chances at home. While some degree of hope has been generated, there are no definite signs of change in career direction being initiated at this stage, and while there is some optimism on display, more caution is in evidence, especially in regard to anticipated labour market reform.
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- 1.
More specifically, this term refers to a society wherein the political structure changes from single-party rule to a parliamentary system, with administrative institutions undergoing reorganization and an economy of shortages replaced by consumerism (Allaste and Cairns 2016, p. 3).
- 2.
Armenia’s geographical position inevitably brings with it geopolitical implications, placed between the sphere of European policy influence, including the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) and the Eastern Partnership (EaP), and Russia’s macro-frameworks for regional integration and domestic sectoral reforms, creating a what might be termed a ‘contested neighbourhood’ of sorts (Ademmer et al. 2016; Delcour and Wolczuk 2015; Friere and Simão 2013; Loda 2017; Vasilyan 2017). Despite the existence of partnership policies, Armenia’s trade interdependence with the EU has been generally weak, with low volumes of exports from Armenia to the EU, and even lower volumes of EU imports to Armenia according to European Commission figures cited by Delcour and Wolczuk (2015). These authors also emphasize the significance of the trading relationship with Russia, and its role as what they term ‘a primary security guarantor,’ not to mention a key supplier of energy to Armenia with a monopoly over gas distribution (Delcour and Wolczuk 2015, p. 495).
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Cairns, D., Sargsyan, M. (2019). Mobility in Transition. In: Student and Graduate Mobility in Armenia. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19613-4_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19613-4_5
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