ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses Armenian civil society, conceptualised as a complex and evolving ecosystem where formal and informal entities (NGOs and social movements) coexist and cooperate. We argue that Armenian civil society is a lesson in resilience: it is currently in a stage of recovering from setbacks caused by communism and the hardships of the post-communist transition. Armenian civil society is gradually becoming more diverse and more natural in its forms of self-organisation and expression. The chapter sketches the history of Armenian civil society before focusing on the current developments. It uses four case studies of civic activism to explore the strengths and weaknesses of formal vs informal entities of civil society and analyses patterns of cooperation between these two types.
