ABSTRACT
The term national security is essentially used to define a state's mission to meet possible threats, both internal and external. The challenge of national security, especially in today's complex environment of multiplying threats, is to ensure that both definition and defence of national security is a dynamic, not static, process of constant vigilance and preparation. Armenia is now increasingly subject to several broader challenges, ranging from shifting regional geopolitical competition to new threats to the state-centred system of international security. The evolutionary development of Armenian national security has been closely tied to unique history of Armenians. Driven by its long but troubled history, fundamental concept of Armenian national security has been dominated by most basic and essential mission: survival. The overwhelming focus on so-called external threats to Armenian national security has been both misplaced and mistaken. Such "threat misperception" rooted in a rigid nationalism has been compounded by the closed and subjective nature of national security and defence policy-making.
