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ANALYTICAL COMMUNITY OF THE DIASPORA AS A POTENTIAL FOR THE COUNTRY: INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
http://www.noravank.am/eng/articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=12483
13.01.2014
Arestakes Simavoryan
Head of the Center for the Armenian Studies, Noravank Foundation
In the works of modern specialists of Diaspora studies an idea is often
expressed that diaspora is not only a part of the people living in
foreign countries that preserves to a certain extent the spiritual,
cultural identity and strives to maintain ties with historical
homeland, but first of all it also constitutes a supranational
network that has a huge socio-cultural, socio-political, economic and
intellectual potential. With this in mind, many countries have had a
vast experience of benefiting from the knowledge of their diaspora's
intellectual communities and activities of individuals that are highly
regarded in government structures. It is important to study the
experience of these countries, in order to find solutions and ways
for developing mechanisms for unification of Armenian diaspora's
scientific and analytical community, establishment of links and
collaboration with Armenia's intellectual circles in various formats,
and putting the pan-Armenian resources to service of Armenia's and
Armeniancy's interests.
It is well known that the growth trend of "think-tanks" (hereinafter
referred to as TT) in the West has contributed to development of
scientific thought in humanities outside the academic frameworks and
has brought a new quality to the political and strategic research and
development. In order to add higher professionalism to such R&D, many
countries that have diasporas started using their expert resources
available in the USA and EU.
Benefiting from expert resources in humanities has been somewhat
distinctive and not so difficult process, unlike that from academic
resources (especially in natural sciences), which was significantly
harder due to a number of circumstances. It has to be noted that for
several countries expert resources of diaspora have been a lot more
limited than those available domestically. Many newly established
Israeli, Indian, Chinese, Japanese and Greek TTs faced an important
problem of securing enough intellectual resources. This made them
seek help of the diaspora scientific and expert resources, which
also facilitated establishment of international ties with similar
entities abroad.
On the other hand, some countries achieved progress by bringing these
ties to an institutional level, engaging the intellectual resources
in network activities and focusing on development of high priority
national strategic programs. In parallel to networking activities,
owing to consistent work and enduring collaboration, some countries
have also been able to reach a new level and establish analytical
institutions abroad.
The Chinese experience of work with scientific communities of diaspora
is quite interesting. The scientific and analytic capabilities of the
Chinese diaspora have first of all been used to achieve a breakthrough
in China's economy, after which the Chinese employees of political
and strategic research institutions abroad became intermediaries in
the US-China somewhat sour relations and became a supportive force for
China's foreign policies. In 1998 the Chinese government made attempts
to involve some highly qualified Chinese scientists and experts from
abroad in both distant and in-situ implemented programs, by offering
quite high compensations1. Thus, there have been some economic and
political reasons for the use of diaspora's potential. This whole
chain-like continuous process took place with direct participation of
the government. It made possible to rally the intellectual/business
elite around challenging tasks in various areas, which later on led
to some important achievements. The intellectuals of diaspora were
engaged not just for getting feedbacks and holding discussions, but
they were trusted with practical tasks to perform, one of which was
the initiative to implement economic reforms. The Chinese experience
showed that diaspora may play an instrumental role in development of
any sector.
The Israeli policies are remarkable, too. As in the case with China,
Israel was trying to use the scientific potential of the diaspora for
development of the newly established state's economy. As researcher H.
Marutyan notes: "With its small territory and limited natural and
financial resources and constant military conflict with some of
its neighbors, the State of Israel had to continuously look for
non-standard, creative solutions to make progress"2. Owing to the
American-Israeli scientific collaboration, the U.S. - Israel Binational
Science Foundation (BSF) was established in 1972. It was followed
by establishment of the United States-Israel Binational Agricultural
Research and Development Fund (BARD) in 1978, the mission of which was
to support research and innovation crucially important for agricultures
of both countries3.
As far as analytical centers are concerned, it has to be noted that
Israel made the first attempts to benefit from this potential back
in 1950s. Among the analytical centers, the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is a highly regarded "think-tank." The
Committee was founded in 1954 by Jews residing in the USA. It pursued
an objective of securing economic, political and military support
provided by the US government to the fledgling Jewish state. At AIPAC's
direct initiative in 1994 the USA provided about $3 billion to Israel
for economic and military development, of which $80 million was for
Jewish repatriation4. Every year AIPAC organizes high-level meetings
and political conferences with participation of renowned political
scientists, experts and scholars from both countries.
Interestingly enough, it was after these very conferences that Israel
started to cooperate with American Jewish analysts working in TTs.
Many of them currently collaborate with reputable Israeli strategic
research centers as associates5.
In the recent years some of the CIS countries, including Russia6,
Moldova, Belarus, have begun to pay attention to the scientific
potential of their diasporas, though they are still at the stage of
developing mechanisms for possible cooperation in such formats. It has
to be mentioned that in implementation of such large-scale projects
special importance is attached to conferences specifically aimed
at this topic. In particular, in 2010 a scientific and practical
conference on Scientific Diaspora and the Future of the Russian
Science took place in St. Petersburg with participation of invited
ethnic Russian scientists and analysts from institutes involved in
strategic research in various countries7.
It appears this type of conferences are worth organizing in Armenia,
since as much as we would like to involve the diaspora in scientific
and strategic research, it is necessary to first hear the opinions
and viewpoints of this community in that regard. Moldova, Russia,
Belarus and a few other countries follow this logic.
Study of the international experience would not be complete without
considering Turkey, as its activities, especially those with
"think-tanks", directly affect the triple union of the Republic of
Armenia, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh and Armenian Diaspora.
In the recent decades, Turkey has been very active in communicating
the high priority national problems to its expert resources in foreign
countries and mobilizing them around common goals. There are many
structures that mobilize foreign Turkish intellectuals around various
institutions, political platforms and currently they are on the path
of establishing a "national league of analysts".
It is characteristic that the current Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ahmet Davutoglu, who hails from the Turkish analytical circles, has a
high regard for the role of these structures in the country's internal
and external political developments and uses them as an alternative
"diplomatic corps", including for promotion of his own positions in
Turkish-Armenian relations.
Under such conditions the scientific and especially expert community
of Armenia will always encounter the viewpoints and different
political formulas put forward by the Turkish government through
these structures. This situation prompts to unify the available
scientific/expert intellectual resources of Armenia and diaspora,
which would enable to form a common approach through exchange of
opinions and perspectives on any strategic issue the Armeniancy faces,
so as to counter the moves made by the Turkish "fifth power."
To summarize the international experience, it can be stated that a
number of factors have influenced the decisions of different countries
to establish ties with their diaspora scientific and analytical
community, including:
Creation of a new format of ties and cooperation with diaspora.
The need to carry out reforms in various sectors.
Implementing changes in internal and external policies.
Bringing a new quality to strategic R&D.
Introduction of new research areas (political forecast, etc.).
Manpower training, experience exchange.
Propagandistic and lobbying activities, etc.
The experience of countries that cooperate with analytic communities
of their diasporas once again proves that the success comes with
lasting, systematic and flexible policies anchored on two main
players: government system and business world. These players view
their compatriots working in foreign TTs as a resource that enriches
their own country's discourse around economic, scientific, educational,
political and other topics.
1 Ð-Ñ~CджÑ~CнÑ~L Ð"., Ð~ZоваÐ"ев Ð~\., Ð~]овик Ð'.,
Феномен Ñ~MкономиÑ~GеÑ~Aкого Ñ~@азвиÑ~BиÑ~O
Ð~ZиÑ~BаÑ~O, Ð~\инÑ~Aк, Ð~XздаÑ~BеÐ"Ñ~LÑ~Aкий Ñ~FенÑ~BÑ~@
Ð'Ð"У, 2008, Ñ~A. 27.
2 Õ~DÕ¡O~@Õ¸O~BÕ©ÕµÕ¡Õ¶ Õ~@., Ô"Õ½O~@Õ¡ÕµÕ¥Õ¬Õ"
Õ´O~@O~AÕ¸O~BÕ¶Õ¡Õ¯Õ¸O~BÕ©ÕµÕ¸O~BÕ¶Õ¨ O~G Õ£Õ"Õ¿Õ¸O~BÕ©ÕµÕ¡Õ¶
Õ¤Õ¥O~@Õ¨, Â"Ô³Õ¬Õ¸Õ¢Õ¸O~BÕ½, Ô±Õ¦Õ£Õ¡ÕµÕ"Õ¶
Õ¡Õ¶Õ¾Õ¿Õ¡Õ¶Õ£Õ¸O~BÕ©ÕµÕ¸O~BÕ¶Â", 2009, Õ©Õ"Õ¾ 4 (8), Õ§Õ" 42O~I
3 Ibid, pp. 47-48O~I
4 Ð~[ендман С., AIPAC Ñ...оÑ~GеÑ~B воеваÑ~BÑ~L,
http://news.putc.org/news/aipac_khochet_voevat/2012-08-21-1279.
5 Among other American analytical centers known for supporting Israel
in various areas is the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs,
which has been founded by the local Jewish community.
6 See: Ð~^Ñ~Aина Ð~P., РоÑ~AÑ~AийÑ~AкаÑ~O
наÑ~CÑ~GнаÑ~O диаÑ~AпоÑ~@а и подÑ...одÑ~K
к Ñ~AоÑ~BÑ~@Ñ~CдниÑ~GеÑ~AÑ~BвÑ~C Ñ~A ней
дÐ"Ñ~O Ñ~@азвиÑ~BиÑ~O Ñ~@оÑ~AÑ~AийÑ~Aкой
наÑ~Cки, "ТеоÑ~@иÑ~O и пÑ~@акÑ~Bика
обÑ~IеÑ~AÑ~Bвенного Ñ~@азвиÑ~BиÑ~O", 2013, â~D- 8,
http://www.teoria-practica.ru/-8-2013/sociology/osina.pdf
7 The materials of the conference can be found at:
Ð~]аÑ~CÑ~GнаÑ~O диаÑ~AпоÑ~@а и бÑ~CдÑ~CÑ~Iее
Ñ~@оÑ~AÑ~AийÑ~Aкой наÑ~Cки (конÑ~DеÑ~@енÑ~FиÑ~O
2010),http://www.lektorium.tv/course/?id=22763.
"Globus" analytical journal, #12, 2013
Return ________________________________ Another materials of author
ARMENOLOGICAL CENTERS IN THE DIASPORA AS INSTITUTIONAL INTELLECTUAL
RESOURCE[08.10.2013] TURKEY ON THE THRESHOLD OF 2015[11.07.2013]
SCHOOLS OF THE ARMENIAN CATHOLIC COMMUNITY IN ISTANBUL[06.06.2013]
ACADEMIC AND EXPERT POTENTIAL OF THE DIASPORA: ISSUES OF ASSESSMENT AND
ORGANIZATION[04.03.2013] THE GROUNDS OF INTER-CONFESSIONAL COOPERATION
IN THE DIASPORA[03.09.2012] CHRISTIANS IN TODAY'S TURKEY (Protestants
and Catholics) [24.05.2012] THE CLERICAL AND CHURCH ISSUES OF THE
ARMENIAN CATHOLIC COMMUNITY IN RUSSIA[22.12.2011] CATHOLIC ARMENIANS
IN POLAND[17.10.2011] FORECASTS ON TURKEY'S FUTURE[15.09.2011] ON
THE ISSUES OF THE CATHOLICS ARMENIAN[09.06.2011]
http://www.noravank.am/eng/articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=12483
13.01.2014
Arestakes Simavoryan
Head of the Center for the Armenian Studies, Noravank Foundation
In the works of modern specialists of Diaspora studies an idea is often
expressed that diaspora is not only a part of the people living in
foreign countries that preserves to a certain extent the spiritual,
cultural identity and strives to maintain ties with historical
homeland, but first of all it also constitutes a supranational
network that has a huge socio-cultural, socio-political, economic and
intellectual potential. With this in mind, many countries have had a
vast experience of benefiting from the knowledge of their diaspora's
intellectual communities and activities of individuals that are highly
regarded in government structures. It is important to study the
experience of these countries, in order to find solutions and ways
for developing mechanisms for unification of Armenian diaspora's
scientific and analytical community, establishment of links and
collaboration with Armenia's intellectual circles in various formats,
and putting the pan-Armenian resources to service of Armenia's and
Armeniancy's interests.
It is well known that the growth trend of "think-tanks" (hereinafter
referred to as TT) in the West has contributed to development of
scientific thought in humanities outside the academic frameworks and
has brought a new quality to the political and strategic research and
development. In order to add higher professionalism to such R&D, many
countries that have diasporas started using their expert resources
available in the USA and EU.
Benefiting from expert resources in humanities has been somewhat
distinctive and not so difficult process, unlike that from academic
resources (especially in natural sciences), which was significantly
harder due to a number of circumstances. It has to be noted that for
several countries expert resources of diaspora have been a lot more
limited than those available domestically. Many newly established
Israeli, Indian, Chinese, Japanese and Greek TTs faced an important
problem of securing enough intellectual resources. This made them
seek help of the diaspora scientific and expert resources, which
also facilitated establishment of international ties with similar
entities abroad.
On the other hand, some countries achieved progress by bringing these
ties to an institutional level, engaging the intellectual resources
in network activities and focusing on development of high priority
national strategic programs. In parallel to networking activities,
owing to consistent work and enduring collaboration, some countries
have also been able to reach a new level and establish analytical
institutions abroad.
The Chinese experience of work with scientific communities of diaspora
is quite interesting. The scientific and analytic capabilities of the
Chinese diaspora have first of all been used to achieve a breakthrough
in China's economy, after which the Chinese employees of political
and strategic research institutions abroad became intermediaries in
the US-China somewhat sour relations and became a supportive force for
China's foreign policies. In 1998 the Chinese government made attempts
to involve some highly qualified Chinese scientists and experts from
abroad in both distant and in-situ implemented programs, by offering
quite high compensations1. Thus, there have been some economic and
political reasons for the use of diaspora's potential. This whole
chain-like continuous process took place with direct participation of
the government. It made possible to rally the intellectual/business
elite around challenging tasks in various areas, which later on led
to some important achievements. The intellectuals of diaspora were
engaged not just for getting feedbacks and holding discussions, but
they were trusted with practical tasks to perform, one of which was
the initiative to implement economic reforms. The Chinese experience
showed that diaspora may play an instrumental role in development of
any sector.
The Israeli policies are remarkable, too. As in the case with China,
Israel was trying to use the scientific potential of the diaspora for
development of the newly established state's economy. As researcher H.
Marutyan notes: "With its small territory and limited natural and
financial resources and constant military conflict with some of
its neighbors, the State of Israel had to continuously look for
non-standard, creative solutions to make progress"2. Owing to the
American-Israeli scientific collaboration, the U.S. - Israel Binational
Science Foundation (BSF) was established in 1972. It was followed
by establishment of the United States-Israel Binational Agricultural
Research and Development Fund (BARD) in 1978, the mission of which was
to support research and innovation crucially important for agricultures
of both countries3.
As far as analytical centers are concerned, it has to be noted that
Israel made the first attempts to benefit from this potential back
in 1950s. Among the analytical centers, the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is a highly regarded "think-tank." The
Committee was founded in 1954 by Jews residing in the USA. It pursued
an objective of securing economic, political and military support
provided by the US government to the fledgling Jewish state. At AIPAC's
direct initiative in 1994 the USA provided about $3 billion to Israel
for economic and military development, of which $80 million was for
Jewish repatriation4. Every year AIPAC organizes high-level meetings
and political conferences with participation of renowned political
scientists, experts and scholars from both countries.
Interestingly enough, it was after these very conferences that Israel
started to cooperate with American Jewish analysts working in TTs.
Many of them currently collaborate with reputable Israeli strategic
research centers as associates5.
In the recent years some of the CIS countries, including Russia6,
Moldova, Belarus, have begun to pay attention to the scientific
potential of their diasporas, though they are still at the stage of
developing mechanisms for possible cooperation in such formats. It has
to be mentioned that in implementation of such large-scale projects
special importance is attached to conferences specifically aimed
at this topic. In particular, in 2010 a scientific and practical
conference on Scientific Diaspora and the Future of the Russian
Science took place in St. Petersburg with participation of invited
ethnic Russian scientists and analysts from institutes involved in
strategic research in various countries7.
It appears this type of conferences are worth organizing in Armenia,
since as much as we would like to involve the diaspora in scientific
and strategic research, it is necessary to first hear the opinions
and viewpoints of this community in that regard. Moldova, Russia,
Belarus and a few other countries follow this logic.
Study of the international experience would not be complete without
considering Turkey, as its activities, especially those with
"think-tanks", directly affect the triple union of the Republic of
Armenia, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh and Armenian Diaspora.
In the recent decades, Turkey has been very active in communicating
the high priority national problems to its expert resources in foreign
countries and mobilizing them around common goals. There are many
structures that mobilize foreign Turkish intellectuals around various
institutions, political platforms and currently they are on the path
of establishing a "national league of analysts".
It is characteristic that the current Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ahmet Davutoglu, who hails from the Turkish analytical circles, has a
high regard for the role of these structures in the country's internal
and external political developments and uses them as an alternative
"diplomatic corps", including for promotion of his own positions in
Turkish-Armenian relations.
Under such conditions the scientific and especially expert community
of Armenia will always encounter the viewpoints and different
political formulas put forward by the Turkish government through
these structures. This situation prompts to unify the available
scientific/expert intellectual resources of Armenia and diaspora,
which would enable to form a common approach through exchange of
opinions and perspectives on any strategic issue the Armeniancy faces,
so as to counter the moves made by the Turkish "fifth power."
To summarize the international experience, it can be stated that a
number of factors have influenced the decisions of different countries
to establish ties with their diaspora scientific and analytical
community, including:
Creation of a new format of ties and cooperation with diaspora.
The need to carry out reforms in various sectors.
Implementing changes in internal and external policies.
Bringing a new quality to strategic R&D.
Introduction of new research areas (political forecast, etc.).
Manpower training, experience exchange.
Propagandistic and lobbying activities, etc.
The experience of countries that cooperate with analytic communities
of their diasporas once again proves that the success comes with
lasting, systematic and flexible policies anchored on two main
players: government system and business world. These players view
their compatriots working in foreign TTs as a resource that enriches
their own country's discourse around economic, scientific, educational,
political and other topics.
1 Ð-Ñ~CджÑ~CнÑ~L Ð"., Ð~ZоваÐ"ев Ð~\., Ð~]овик Ð'.,
Феномен Ñ~MкономиÑ~GеÑ~Aкого Ñ~@азвиÑ~BиÑ~O
Ð~ZиÑ~BаÑ~O, Ð~\инÑ~Aк, Ð~XздаÑ~BеÐ"Ñ~LÑ~Aкий Ñ~FенÑ~BÑ~@
Ð'Ð"У, 2008, Ñ~A. 27.
2 Õ~DÕ¡O~@Õ¸O~BÕ©ÕµÕ¡Õ¶ Õ~@., Ô"Õ½O~@Õ¡ÕµÕ¥Õ¬Õ"
Õ´O~@O~AÕ¸O~BÕ¶Õ¡Õ¯Õ¸O~BÕ©ÕµÕ¸O~BÕ¶Õ¨ O~G Õ£Õ"Õ¿Õ¸O~BÕ©ÕµÕ¡Õ¶
Õ¤Õ¥O~@Õ¨, Â"Ô³Õ¬Õ¸Õ¢Õ¸O~BÕ½, Ô±Õ¦Õ£Õ¡ÕµÕ"Õ¶
Õ¡Õ¶Õ¾Õ¿Õ¡Õ¶Õ£Õ¸O~BÕ©ÕµÕ¸O~BÕ¶Â", 2009, Õ©Õ"Õ¾ 4 (8), Õ§Õ" 42O~I
3 Ibid, pp. 47-48O~I
4 Ð~[ендман С., AIPAC Ñ...оÑ~GеÑ~B воеваÑ~BÑ~L,
http://news.putc.org/news/aipac_khochet_voevat/2012-08-21-1279.
5 Among other American analytical centers known for supporting Israel
in various areas is the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs,
which has been founded by the local Jewish community.
6 See: Ð~^Ñ~Aина Ð~P., РоÑ~AÑ~AийÑ~AкаÑ~O
наÑ~CÑ~GнаÑ~O диаÑ~AпоÑ~@а и подÑ...одÑ~K
к Ñ~AоÑ~BÑ~@Ñ~CдниÑ~GеÑ~AÑ~BвÑ~C Ñ~A ней
дÐ"Ñ~O Ñ~@азвиÑ~BиÑ~O Ñ~@оÑ~AÑ~AийÑ~Aкой
наÑ~Cки, "ТеоÑ~@иÑ~O и пÑ~@акÑ~Bика
обÑ~IеÑ~AÑ~Bвенного Ñ~@азвиÑ~BиÑ~O", 2013, â~D- 8,
http://www.teoria-practica.ru/-8-2013/sociology/osina.pdf
7 The materials of the conference can be found at:
Ð~]аÑ~CÑ~GнаÑ~O диаÑ~AпоÑ~@а и бÑ~CдÑ~CÑ~Iее
Ñ~@оÑ~AÑ~AийÑ~Aкой наÑ~Cки (конÑ~DеÑ~@енÑ~FиÑ~O
2010),http://www.lektorium.tv/course/?id=22763.
"Globus" analytical journal, #12, 2013
Return ________________________________ Another materials of author
ARMENOLOGICAL CENTERS IN THE DIASPORA AS INSTITUTIONAL INTELLECTUAL
RESOURCE[08.10.2013] TURKEY ON THE THRESHOLD OF 2015[11.07.2013]
SCHOOLS OF THE ARMENIAN CATHOLIC COMMUNITY IN ISTANBUL[06.06.2013]
ACADEMIC AND EXPERT POTENTIAL OF THE DIASPORA: ISSUES OF ASSESSMENT AND
ORGANIZATION[04.03.2013] THE GROUNDS OF INTER-CONFESSIONAL COOPERATION
IN THE DIASPORA[03.09.2012] CHRISTIANS IN TODAY'S TURKEY (Protestants
and Catholics) [24.05.2012] THE CLERICAL AND CHURCH ISSUES OF THE
ARMENIAN CATHOLIC COMMUNITY IN RUSSIA[22.12.2011] CATHOLIC ARMENIANS
IN POLAND[17.10.2011] FORECASTS ON TURKEY'S FUTURE[15.09.2011] ON
THE ISSUES OF THE CATHOLICS ARMENIAN[09.06.2011]