The West: “Ambiguous Modern”

Abstract

The “West” is both a geopolitical construct and an idea. Armenia’s relationship with it and understanding of it should be considered within the context of postcommunism because the very concept of the “West” has been solidified and coined in reference to the “East.” Hence, in the Armenian foreign policy thinking and practice, it is defined first and foremost politically rather than geographically and to a great extent against the post-Soviet context:

This principle [of diversification] resisted by some and spurned by odiers, began to take hold in international fora, mainly due to Armenia’s insistence on diversification as a core value to build cooperation, particularly in areas of the former fault lines of East—West antagonism. This principle is predicated on the notion that with the disappearance of a bi-polar world, its underlying ideology should be scrapped with it. Armenia’s whole security doctrine and its web of bilateral relations are guided by this element as it has successfully created a network of security arrangements complementary to each other, with contributions from both former cold-war camps.²

Politically speaking, when we say the “West” we unite America and Western Europe leaving outside this union die countries of Central and Eastern Europe, diough geographically, diey are in die West.¹