ABSTRACT
To the extent that Armenian political thought ties the security, economic development, and the future of Armenia to the country's strategic significance, this chapter discusses this subject with the simple question, is Armenia a strategically important country today? To answer this question, it is necessary to make three general remarks. First, strategic significance for a country is very different from the significance of a country. Armenia means and signifies something to all Armenians, to one degree or another. That significance may be personal, historic, emotional, economic, political, etc. Strategic significance is always significance for some other country or countries. Second, there should be a distinction made between strategic significance and strategic options. Third, the foreign policy of a state must deal with what is inevitable in its strategic significance in a manner that minimizes damage and maximizes benefits as far as its national interests are concerned. It must create options that may redefine and redirect perceptions underlying the first function.
