Who Owns the Armenian Cause? The Clash Between the Sovereign State and the Global Nation

This book analyzes the definitive rupture in the relationship between the Republic of Armenia and its global diaspora following the 2023 loss of Nagorno-Karabakh. It argues that the Pashinyan administration’s pursuit of a "Real Armenia"—a Westphalian state defined strictly by internationally recognized borders and regional normalization—necessitates a structural decoupling from the "Historical Armenia" paradigm long championed by the diaspora. This divergence has triggered profound political, institutional, and spiritual crises, marked by the marginalization of traditional lobby groups and a severe conflict between secular authorities and the Armenian Apostolic Church. As the Armenian state lacks the capacity and willingness to maintain its role as the center of a transnational network, the diaspora faces an existential fork: it must either evolve into a decentralized, self-reliant global entity or succumb to the slow erosion of linguistic decay and assimilation. Through comparative analysis and institutional critique, this volume maps the strategic pathways for a community at a historic crossroads.