Individualism Versus Common Good: Exploring the Driving Forces in the Armenian Diaspora’s Engagement with Armenia—A Survey-Based Analysis

This project looks into the evolving post-independence engagement of the Armenian diaspora with Armenia. The most difficult question concerns the motivational forces behind the vastly scattered and diverse Armenian diaspora’s engagement with Armenia’s socio-economic development. Since the 1990s, much of the initial economic activity was either created or co-led by representatives from the global Armenian diaspora. However, should present day Republic of Armenia be positioning itself as an investment opportunity with potential high returns on capital, as a low-tax and high-human capital hub for specific niche sector development, or as a historical homeland the country engages with its diaspora reciprocally to develop sustainable development frameworks? Moreover, are the ongoing diaspora-homeland engagements individually driven or follow a common good pattern in small country development? The answers are not as evident as it may seem at first. There are additional important sub-questions addressed in this paper. For example, has the Armenian diaspora’s development potential been fully exhausted? Are we at the peak (or moving in the direction) of the broadly defined diaspora-homeland relations? How could the effectiveness of diaspora-homeland interaction be objectively measured? What are the conceptual frameworks for an effective and sustained engagement, given the complexity of the Armenian dispersion? The answers require a profound interdisciplinary analysis. That then motivates the design of this paper, leveraging the sociological and historical aspects of diaspora studies, with insights from economic development. In its effort to explore diaspora’s inner motivations, the paper relies on a proprietary survey of the Armenian diaspora and a mixed analysis of case-studies, literature, and fieldwork. The experience of the Armenians is instructive for other diaspora-endowed communities and, especially, small economies. As such this paper is a contribution to the growing literature in diaspora economics bridging topics of identity, belonging, and socio-economic development.