{"id":2587,"date":"2026-06-22T14:31:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T18:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/?p=2587"},"modified":"2026-06-22T14:31:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T18:31:59","slug":"armenia-public-opinion-nato-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/2026\/armenia-public-opinion-nato-opportunity\/","title":{"rendered":"Armenian Public Opinion And Opportunities For Greater NATO Engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"w-screen px-6 cu-section cu-section--white ml-offset-center md:px-8 lg:px-14\">\n    <div class=\"space-y-6 cu-max-w-child-5xl  md:space-y-10 cu-prose-first-last\">\n\n            <div class=\"cu-textmedia flex flex-col lg:flex-row mx-auto gap-6 md:gap-10 my-6 md:my-12 first:mt-0 max-w-5xl\">\n        <div class=\"justify-start cu-textmedia-content cu-prose-first-last\" style=\"flex: 0 0 100%;\">\n            <header class=\"font-light prose-xl cu-pageheader md:prose-2xl cu-component-updated cu-prose-first-last\">\n                                    <h1 class=\"cu-prose-first-last font-semibold !mt-2 mb-4 md:mb-6 relative after:absolute after:h-px after:bottom-0 after:bg-cu-red after:left-px text-3xl md:text-4xl lg:text-5xl lg:leading-[3.5rem] pb-5 after:w-10 text-cu-black-700 not-prose\">\n                        Armenian Public Opinion And Opportunities For Greater NATO Engagement \n                    <\/h1>\n                \n                                \n                                    \n\n<p>By Mahsa Ebrahimzadeh Asl Tabrizi, Carleton University<\/p>\n\n\n                            <\/header>\n\n                    <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"key-takeaways\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key\u00a0Takeaways<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Most Armenians feel that their country is\u00a0\u201con their own\u201d\u00a0if faced\u00a0with\u00a0a military threat,\u00a0displaying a\u00a0perception\u00a0of personal safety associated with geopolitical alignment.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>With uncertainty widespread and\u00a0perceptions\u00a0on security partnerships polarized, many\u00a0in Armenia\u00a0are open to diversifying security ties.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Considering public opinion, while NATO\u00a0has\u00a0a\u00a0relatively limited\u00a0set of cooperation tools, they should\u00a0nonetheless\u00a0prioritize visible\u00a0engagement\u00a0with Armenia, communicate limitations\u00a0of such partnership\u00a0clearly,\u00a0and manage\u00a0expectations.\u00a0Sustained\u00a0and predictable cooperation\u00a0should be kept\u00a0in\u00a0practical\u00a0rather than geopolitical\u00a0terms and\u00a0perceptions.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"context\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This policy brief&nbsp;examines the&nbsp;implications&nbsp;of public attitudes towards security issues in Armenia for&nbsp;the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).&nbsp;It assesses the prevalence of insecurity narratives among Armenians and shows how such attitudes are associated with opinions towards external security actors.&nbsp;Survey evidence shows that Armenia&#8217;s core&nbsp;security challenge&nbsp;is&nbsp;a&nbsp;sense of&nbsp;abandonment&nbsp;among its public.&nbsp;Confidence in international security institutions is weak, as&nbsp;nearly&nbsp;half&nbsp;of&nbsp;Armenians&nbsp;(48%)&nbsp;believe&nbsp;their country&nbsp;would&nbsp;not&nbsp;receive&nbsp;support&nbsp;in the event of&nbsp;a&nbsp;military&nbsp;conflict.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As&nbsp;confidence&nbsp;in Armenia\u2019s traditional security partners&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;Russia and the&nbsp;Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;stands&nbsp;low,&nbsp; other&nbsp;international actors&nbsp;are seen as&nbsp;positive&nbsp;contributors to Armenia\u2019s&nbsp;overall&nbsp;security, including&nbsp;both NATO&nbsp;and&nbsp;China.&nbsp;The&nbsp;Armenian&nbsp;public\u2019s&nbsp;openness toward alternative&nbsp;security&nbsp;partners&nbsp;and&nbsp;a broader&nbsp;reassessement&nbsp;of&nbsp;Armenia\u2019s&nbsp;security architecture&nbsp;creates an opportunity for NATO&nbsp;to push for&nbsp;more active involvement. As available options are limited, NATO should strive for realistic, civilian-oriented cooperation&nbsp;based&nbsp;in&nbsp;institutional resilience, without raising expectations of formal guarantees. This&nbsp;increased involvement, along with sustained and visible engagement,&nbsp;should offer better reassurance to Armenia without&nbsp;otherwise&nbsp;escalating geopolitical&nbsp;tensions&nbsp;in the region.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Between its independence in 1991 and the start of the second Nagorno- Karabakh War in 2020, Armenia\u2019s&nbsp;security architecture was heavily&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/jamestown.org\/armenia-adopts-new-national-security-strategy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Russia-centred<\/a>. Armenian&nbsp;political elites&nbsp;leaned towards Russia&nbsp;due to&nbsp;a&nbsp;lack of&nbsp;alternative&nbsp;options&nbsp;on account of&nbsp;its landlocked status and&nbsp;persistent&nbsp;conflict with Azerbaijan&nbsp;and&nbsp;T\u00fcrkiye, along with&nbsp;a&nbsp;limited domestic military capacity. Russia served as Armenia\u2019s primary security guarantor through&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mfa.am\/en\/bilateral-relations\/ru?utm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bilateral agreements<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/gjia.georgetown.edu\/2024\/03\/04\/the-collective-security-treaty-organization-a-lifeless-shambling-alliance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CSTO<\/a>&nbsp;membership;&nbsp;Western&nbsp;military and security&nbsp;engagement remained&nbsp;largely symbolic.&nbsp;Although Armenia&nbsp;and&nbsp;NATO&nbsp;collaborated&nbsp;through&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nato.int\/en\/what-we-do\/partnerships-and-cooperation\/relations-with-armenia?utm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Partnership for Peace (PfP)<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nato.int\/en\/what-we-do\/partnerships-and-cooperation\/individual-partnership-action-plans-2002-2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP)<\/a>&nbsp;frameworks, these initiatives focused on technical cooperation and institutional dialogue rather than substantive security guarantees.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.euractiv.com\/news\/armenias-pashinyan-gives-up-karabakh-abandons-russia-led-csto\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">failure of Russia-led security arrangements<\/a>&nbsp;to prevent military defeat in&nbsp;2020 marked a critical rupture in&nbsp;Armenia\u2019s security&nbsp;system. The&nbsp;second&nbsp;Nagorno-Karabakh&nbsp;War significantly undermined public&nbsp;and government&nbsp;confidence in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/armenian-pm-says-depending-solely-russia-security-was-strategic-mistake-2023-09-03\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Moscow<\/a>&nbsp;and the CSTO&nbsp;as reliable protectors&nbsp;and&nbsp;intensified feelings&nbsp;that&nbsp;Armenia&nbsp;had been&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/emerging-europe.com\/let-down-by-moscow-armenia-looks-to-the-west\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">betrayed<\/a>&nbsp;by&nbsp;its&nbsp;traditional security partners.&nbsp;In response, the Pashinyan government&nbsp;increasingly&nbsp;sought&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.azatutyun.am\/a\/32685999.html?utm=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">diversify Armenia\u2019s external security ties<\/a>. This shift is visible in several developments, including the&nbsp;\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.1lurer.am\/en\/2025\/12\/11\/Normalization-of-Armenia-Turkey-relations-and-opening-of-border-have-now-acquired-an-entirely-diffe\/1431295?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Normalization of Armenia-Turkey Relations<\/a>,\u201d&nbsp;the deployment of the&nbsp;European Union\u2019s&nbsp;(EU)&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eeas.europa.eu\/euma\/about-european-union-mission-armenia_en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">monitoring mission<\/a>&nbsp;along the Armenia\u2013Azerbaijan border,&nbsp;and the launch of enhanced&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/2021-2025.state.gov\/office-of-the-spokesperson\/releases\/2025\/01\/secretary-blinkens-meeting-with-armenian-foreign-minister-mirzoyan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cooperation&nbsp;with the United States (US)&nbsp;under the Strategic Partnership Charter<\/a>&nbsp;in January 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"public-insecurity-security-preferences-and-reported-future-vote-in-armenia\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Public Insecurity, Security Preferences, and Reported Future Vote in Armenia\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A nationwide survey in Armenia, conducted by Carleton University\u2019s&nbsp;Eastern European and Transatlantic Network (EETN)&nbsp;in February and&nbsp;March&nbsp;2025,&nbsp;shows that Armenians&nbsp;are&nbsp;almost equally&nbsp;split between who report to feel safe (52%)&nbsp;and unsafe (47%) in their daily lives.&nbsp;Residents of Yerevan&nbsp;tend to feel more unsafe (52%) compared to these&nbsp;in other urban&nbsp;(44%)&nbsp;and rural areas&nbsp;(45%).&nbsp;The&nbsp;risk of war with Azerbaijan&nbsp;(59%) is the major concern&nbsp;consistent across society.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perceived personal security is&nbsp;closely associated&nbsp;with&nbsp;positive&nbsp;attitudes toward Western alignment; those&nbsp;who feel safer are&nbsp;substantially more&nbsp;likely to support NATO and EU membership than those who&nbsp;do not. Among individuals who report feeling safe, 60% would vote&nbsp;\u201cYes\u201d&nbsp;in a&nbsp;hypothetical referendum for Armenia joining&nbsp;NATO and 64%&nbsp;would&nbsp;do the same in a potential referendum&nbsp;on joining the EU. In contrast, among those who feel unsafe, only 40% would support NATO, and 36% would back EU&nbsp;membership, with clear majorities in this group opposing both initiatives,&nbsp;56% against NATO and 64% against the EU.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"942\" height=\"348\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2026\/06\/image-3.png\" alt=\"Data representation of Armenians who would\/would not vote for NATO and EU membership.\" class=\"wp-image-2588\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2026\/06\/image-3.png 942w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2026\/06\/image-3-512x189.png 512w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2026\/06\/image-3-320x118.png 320w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2026\/06\/image-3-768x284.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 942px) 100vw, 942px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Armenians are divided across party lines in their assessment of personal safety. With a clear majority&nbsp;(71%)&nbsp;either recusing themselves from voting in parliamentary elections, intending to spoil the ballot,&nbsp;or not share&nbsp;voting preferences. Among those&nbsp;who would engage in elections and\/or share their preferences, the majority&nbsp;who support the&nbsp;Civil Contract party&nbsp;(86%)&nbsp;feel safe, compared to&nbsp;36&nbsp;percent of opposition supporters that include&nbsp;the&nbsp;largely pro-Russian Armenia Alliance party.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many in Armenia feel that their country&nbsp;would be left&nbsp;on their own&nbsp;if&nbsp;it faces&nbsp;a military attack,&nbsp;with&nbsp;nearly&nbsp;half&nbsp;(48%)&nbsp;thinking so and&nbsp;only&nbsp;6% being unsure&nbsp;about&nbsp;who might help.&nbsp;As the&nbsp;sense&nbsp;of abandonment is widespread, still, those with different&nbsp;perceptions&nbsp;of safety have distinct expectations on who might help. Those who feel unsafe are more likely to choose Russia or the CSTO (20%) as a likely ally in case Armenia faces military conflict, compared to NATO or&nbsp;the&nbsp;West (14%). Conversely, more amongst&nbsp;those feeling secure would expect&nbsp;NATO or the&nbsp;West to come&nbsp;to their aid&nbsp;(25%) than Russia or the CSTO (12%).&nbsp;In sum,&nbsp;perceptions&nbsp;of&nbsp;insecurity&nbsp;are&nbsp;associated with greater reliance on Russia,&nbsp;whereas&nbsp;feelings of security are more strongly linked to expectations of Western support.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"936\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2026\/06\/image-4.png\" alt=\"Armenian public opinion on if the west would participate in potential military conflict.\" class=\"wp-image-2589\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2026\/06\/image-4.png 936w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2026\/06\/image-4-512x222.png 512w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2026\/06\/image-4-320x138.png 320w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2026\/06\/image-4-768x332.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 936px) 100vw, 936px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>At the same time, support for diversifying security partnerships beyond existing allies is&nbsp;relatively broad, with 53%&nbsp;agreeing&nbsp;that&nbsp;searching&nbsp;for new&nbsp;defense and military ties with other countries&nbsp;would&nbsp;make Armenia safer against foreign threats.&nbsp;This idea is popular across the political divide, including&nbsp;70% of Civil Contract supporters and&nbsp;59% of opposition voters.&nbsp;While uncertainty is higher among those with no declared voting intentions, still, more among this group believe that diversification of defense and military ties would make Armenia more secure&nbsp;compared to those who&nbsp;disagree.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This preference for diversification also resonates with elite threat narratives. While Armenian political parties differ in their preferred alignments&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;some&nbsp;favouring&nbsp;Russia, others emphasizing Western engagement, or expressing self-reliance&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;they somehow share a recognition that reliance on a single security partner is no longer sufficient.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"320\" height=\"598\" src=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2026\/06\/image-6-320x598.png\" alt=\"Armenian Political parties alignment and security threat.\" class=\"wp-image-2591\" srcset=\"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2026\/06\/image-6-320x598.png 320w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2026\/06\/image-6-512x958.png 512w, https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2026\/06\/image-6.png 693w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite widespread pessimism about Armenia\u2019s security environment, preferences over geopolitical alignment&nbsp;remain&nbsp;divided rather than&nbsp;consolidated&nbsp;into a single dominant orientation. Equal proportions of respondents believe Armenia would be safer moving closer to NATO (36%) or Russia (36%). Furthermore, more than half of Armenians consider that having NATO troops on the ground would make Armenia safer,&nbsp;indicating&nbsp;a veiled sympathy towards the&nbsp;NATO&nbsp;Alliance.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Overall, these patterns do not&nbsp;indicate&nbsp;a clear&nbsp;preference&nbsp;toward any single geopolitical bloc, although&nbsp;the&nbsp;Western side&nbsp;carries&nbsp;somewhat greater&nbsp;weight.&nbsp;Armenians&nbsp;are&nbsp;somewhat&nbsp;engaged&nbsp;in&nbsp;a survival-driven reassessment of security&nbsp;providers&nbsp;and&nbsp;remaining&nbsp;open to diversified&nbsp;allies&nbsp;clarifies this viewpoint.&nbsp;This creates&nbsp;potetial&nbsp;opportunities for NATO&nbsp;to expand its partnership with Armenia.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"conclusions-and-policy-recommendations\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusions and Policy Recommendations<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Given Armenia\u2019s non-member status in&nbsp;NATO&nbsp;and the structural constraints created by Russia\u2019s influence in the region, formal security guarantees from Western institutions are unlikely&nbsp;to materialize&nbsp;in the near&nbsp;future. NATO\u2019s internal dynamics \u2014 particularly&nbsp;T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s&nbsp;membership and its close military partnership with Azerbaijan \u2014 further limit the&nbsp;NATO\u2019s&nbsp;capacity to provide direct&nbsp;defence&nbsp;commitments&nbsp;to Armenia.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the same time, Armenia\u2019s security landscape is shifting as the government&nbsp;seeks&nbsp;to diversify&nbsp;its&nbsp;external&nbsp;security&nbsp;partnerships. In practice, this has created space for forms of cooperation that do not rely on military guarantees&nbsp;but instead focus on civilian-oriented, visible, and&nbsp;predictable initiatives such as resilience building, civil emergency planning, institutional reform, and confidence-building measures. These efforts aim to address vulnerabilities rather than&nbsp;establish&nbsp;broader geopolitical alignment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Evidence from NATO\u2019s engagement in partner countries illustrates the value of this approach. The&nbsp;substantial&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nato.int\/en\/what-we-do\/partnerships-and-cooperation\/relations-with-georgia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NATO\u2013Georgia Package<\/a>&nbsp;has supported&nbsp;defence&nbsp;reforms, institutional coordination, and national resilience through training, interoperability programs, and civil\u2013military cooperation. Similarly, cooperation with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nato.int\/en\/what-we-do\/partnerships-and-cooperation\/relations-with-the-republic-of-moldova\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Moldova<\/a>&nbsp;has strengthened energy resilience, medical capacity, disaster response, and&nbsp;defence&nbsp;education, showing that civilian-focused partnerships can deliver sustained, practical outcomes.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Armenia, diversification therefore functions as a pragmatic way to expand sources of security support in the absence of formal guarantees. Within this framework, NATO&nbsp;could become a more&nbsp;constructive and realistic partner&nbsp;for Armenia. While direct&nbsp;defence&nbsp;commitments&nbsp;remain&nbsp;improbable, civilian-oriented initiatives offer tools to strengthen institutions and reduce security risks. This perspective underpins the policy recommendations that follow.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1.&nbsp;Given the substantial support of Western-led political structures, NATO should prioritize visible engagement&nbsp;with&nbsp;Armenia.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NATO\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nato.int\/en\/what-we-do\/partnerships-and-cooperation\/individually-tailored-partnership-programmes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Individually&nbsp;Tailored&nbsp;Partnership Program (ITPP)&nbsp;<\/a>is the central framework coordinating cooperation with Armenia, bringing together planning, training, exercises, and institutional reform in a multi-year, capacity-building process. As outlined in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nato.int\/content\/dam\/nato\/legacy-wcm\/media_pdf\/2024\/3\/pdf\/sgar23-en.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NATO\u2019s 2023&nbsp;Annual&nbsp;Report<\/a>,&nbsp;the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/oc-media.org\/nato-and-armenia-to-finalise-new-agreement-as-stoltenberg-tours-south-caucasus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">program<\/a>&nbsp;is designed to deepen cooperation in line with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/oc-media.org\/nato-and-armenia-to-finalise-new-agreement-as-stoltenberg-tours-south-caucasus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Armenia\u2019s priorities<\/a>&nbsp;and level of readiness.&nbsp;NATO should use&nbsp;this&nbsp;initiatives&nbsp;not only as&nbsp;a&nbsp;coordination tool, but as&nbsp;a&nbsp;delivery mechanism for visible,&nbsp;locally-implemented&nbsp;cooperation, particularly beyond Yerevan. By translating the framework into routine, practical engagement,&nbsp;NATO&nbsp;and Armenia&nbsp;can&nbsp;bilaterally&nbsp;strengthen security capacities&nbsp;and&nbsp;address&nbsp;perceptions&nbsp;of&nbsp;abandonment&nbsp;from the Armenian public.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2.&nbsp;NATO&nbsp;should clearly communicate limitations and manage expectations&nbsp;about its partnership with Armenia.&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NATO already frames cooperation with Armenia as partnership-based rather than guarantee-based, but&nbsp;could&nbsp;benefit&nbsp;from&nbsp;communicating&nbsp;more clearly and publicly&nbsp;about&nbsp;what cooperation involves (e.g.,&nbsp;preparedness, institutional reform, resilience) and what it does not&nbsp;(e.g., full membership).&nbsp;Additionally, engagement should be consistently framed as capacity-building rather than&nbsp;a&nbsp;security provision to avoid creating public expectations&nbsp;of&nbsp;any&nbsp;security guarantees. Simple&nbsp;cooperation&nbsp;roadmaps with regular milestones would strengthen predictability, credibility, and reassurance. Furthermore, this should happen in a sustained manner, emphasizing repeated training cycles, ongoing institutional support, and routine regional exercises rather than isolated events. Predictable, long-term cooperation builds trust without raising unrealistic expectations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. NATO should keep cooperation&nbsp;with Armenia&nbsp;practical&nbsp;and&nbsp;not geopolitical.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, as the Armenian public&nbsp;remains&nbsp;divided in their&nbsp;geopolitical preferences,&nbsp;it is important for NATO to&nbsp;prevent&nbsp;its&nbsp;partnership with Armenia from expanding into questions of&nbsp;geopolitical&nbsp;alignment.&nbsp;Engagement should remain&nbsp;centred&nbsp;on functional areas such as crisis preparedness, emergency coordination, institutional reform, and civilian resilience rather than&nbsp;Western-versus-Russian&nbsp;narratives.&nbsp;Expanding direct and clear communication&nbsp;with the Armenian&nbsp;general public&nbsp;can further limit&nbsp;perceptions&nbsp;of forced geopolitical choice and better align external policies with insecurity-driven public concerns in Armenia.&nbsp;This&nbsp;action would&nbsp;strengthen Armenia\u2019s security capacity while minimizing escalation risks and domestic polarization.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This policy brief examines public opinion of security policy in Armenia for NATO. It assesses how narratives of insecurity weaken institutions in the country<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":2592,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[101,180,85,171,145,1,37,94],"tags":[41,158,109,35],"class_list":["post-2587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-armenia","category-black-sea","category-eurasia","category-mentorship","category-nato","category-news","category-policy-brief","category-south-caucasus","tag-armenia","tag-mentorship","tag-nato","tag-policy-brief"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2587"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2593,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587\/revisions\/2593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/eetn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}