Promoting Democratic Governance in the Security Sector

The Starlink Programme (Security, Transparency, Accountability and Reform: Linking the Security Sectors of Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Armenia to the European Mainstream) of the Centre for European Security Studies (CESS) of the Netherlands was introduced in Armenia in March, 2006 through a seminar and a round table which aimed at assessing the main needs and priorities in the field of defense reform and security sector governance in Armenia.

Upon this assessment CESS and ICHD organized and conducted three training courses on democratic governance in the security sector for 60 professional of defense, law enforcement and national security sectors in 2006-2007. The representatives of the Ministry of Defense, National Assembly, RA Police, RA National Security Service, media and NGOs who attended the training courses learned about the approaches and instruments for securing democratic practice of governance in the security sector.

The training courses were followed by a wrap-up conference, which brought together training participants from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in Hague, in mid-December  2007. The conference was focused on the Starlink’s progress and opportunities for further development, as well as on the discussion of democratic reform in the security sector.
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Euro-Atlantic Security Prospects for Armenia and South Caucasus

ICHD have assisted the civil society initiative on establishing an institution aimed at fostering Armenia’s ties with the Euro-Atlantic collective security systems - North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and promoting better understanding of NATO’s mission in developing global security in Armenian society.

Under this initiative the Armenian Atlantic Association (AAA) – a non-partisan,  non-governmental organization – has been established in late 2001, to inform Armenian public on the goals and activities of the NATO, as well as to inform the public in NATO member-states on political, economic and social developments in Armenia. AAA also strives to analyze the impact of the objectives and activities of NATO on the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, in particular, South Caucasus and Armenia. AAA also promotes solidarity amongst nations participating in the NATO Partnership for Peace program and develops contacts with foreign and domestic civic society organizations that pursue similar goals.

ICHD provides continuous support to the AAA providing the Association with methodological instruments, policy advice and advocacy tools since 2001. Particularly, ICHD assisted AAA in organizing various discussions with expert community and civil society representatives in Armenia by offering ICHD’s instrument of the Town Hall Meeting (THMs) discussions to AAA, providing advice on THM discussion mechanism and scenario planning instruments, contributing the THM software and providing ICHD’s pool of facilitators to AAA. ICHD assisted AAA in developing a series of policy papers and organizing Off-the-Record discussions.
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Armenian Perspective on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline

Under the tutelage of the UK based International Alert, ICHD contributed to a wider policy and research Conflict Risk and Impact Assessment (CRIA) program to assist oil sector companies in addressing the underlying causes of conflict and contributing to long-term structures of peace (peace building). ICHD expert elaborated the Armenian perspective on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline as an add-on to filling the gaps of the conflict sensitive perspective in 2004.
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Scenario-Based Planning Exercise in Defense Planning

The scenario-based planning is one of the most effective instruments in security and defense planning. ICHD initiated an exercise of medium-term (10 years perspective) defense planning for Armenia in spring 2009. One of the key characteristics that distinguish long-term defense planning from shorter-term planning is the degree to which uncertainty pervades the process.

The focal issue of the exercise is the defense response of the Republic of Armenia to various political and military situations. ICHD’s scenario-based planning utilizes a set of hypothetical situations for the employment of defense resources. The situations are specified in terms of geographic, military and civil parameters. The format of the scenarios incorporate both situational-static and developmental-dynamic dimensions. The content of the scenarios depicts the development situations of bi-lateral relations with certain states in specific geographical-political contexts, which allows considering capacities and power of the states addressed. ICHD experts also try to address the political stereotypes that emerge in the discussions of such contents. The level of aggregation of the scenarios is mostly framework-based: they are flexible and enable further adaptation and localization for analytical and research purposes vs. rather detailed scenarios that provide more lucid information and conditions but provide less room for further adjustment and amendment. The ICHD limited the scenarios with high probability and high impact situations to ensure adequate level of robustness of the exercise. The exercise considers equal level of uncertainties of the scenarios. The scenarios considered a broad range of macro-environmental forces, key factors of impact, as well as key uncertainties.

The first round of ICHD’s scenario-based planning exercise resulted in four scenarios, which have been discussed with key stakeholders. ICHD plans to reiterate the process at the second round in mid-2010.