“‘BAKONOMICS’ IS DESTRUCTIVE FOR ARTSAKH”
03.13.2015 16:13 epress.am
The Nagorno Karabakh based opposition National Revival Party website
has published an article titled “Bakonomics is Destructive for Artsakh”
written by Stepanakert based political expert Tigran Grigoryan. Below
is the English translation by Epress.am, with minor cuts in the
original text.
– Often, there is a deficiency of terms when describing various
economic and political processes in science and published works. In
order to make these complex and intricate processes and phenomena more
accessible to readers, analysts often have to use new terminology,
hence creating neologisms. There are a few principles behind creating
economic neologisms;
1. For creating new terms, either words or particles are attached
together. For example, ‘Grexit’ (Greece, exit). That term was first
used by Willem H. Butler and Ebrahim Rahbari, referring to Greece’s
possible exit from the Eurozone.
2. New terms are also created by abbreviating the names of different
countries. For example, ‘BRICS’ (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South
Africa), PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain), etc.
3. The most well known ways of creating economic neologisms is
attaching the names of different political officials and an economic
term together.
The latter medium became widespread in economics at the beginning
of the 1980’s, when the term ‘Reaganomics’ was created to describe
Ronald Reagan’s economic policy. Based on international experience,
in the economic policy implemented in recent years in the Republic
of Artsakh can appropriately be described as ‘Bakonomics’ [Bako
Sahakyan is the current President of Nagorno-Karabakh]. Bakonomics
represents a sort of unique model of quasi-capitalism which has been
established in NKR in 2007. The model’s main characteristic feature
is the fusion of political power and business. In this situation,
successful businessmen in Artsakh can only be high ranking government
officials or other statesmen who are close to the government. The main
function of the state budget and institutions is, in the traditional
meaning, to serve oligarch owned businesses. Because the abovementioned
individuals, for the most part, have absolutely no entrepreneurial
inclinations or knowledge of public administration, their guarantee
to success is dependant on their administrative and state resources.
During Bakonomics, simplistic mechanisms and means were cultivated
to contribute to the sustainability of the model. For example, the
state rents space from buildings owned by high ranking officials or
from those close to them, foreign guests invited for various events
are served, through state means, by hotels and restaurants owned by
different oligarchs among the ruling authorities, and the creation
of businesses through public funds, which is presented to the public
with the form of a strategic program. Bakonomics is destructive for
the development of small and medium sized businesses in Artsakh.
The ordinary Artsakh citizen, who attempts to engage in
entrepreneurship, is basically in a disadvantaged situation compared
to the official-oligarch class who takes advantage of state resources.
Just by touring the streets of Stepanakert, anyone could see the
catastrophic consequences of Bakonomics. Just within the past few
months, dozens of stores and kiosks have closed down in the Republics’s
capital and are currently up for sale. This phenomenon is connected
to the lacks of rules in the game, the privileged status of the stores
and supermarkets owned by the oligarchs within the ruling authorities,
the arbitrary use of the tax system by the authorities, racketeering
implemented on the highest level and the seizure of businesses and
property belonging to different independent entrepreneurs and a list
of other similar factors.
During the Bakonomics era, outstanding officials have throughout the
years begun to adopt the main principles of ‘Sashikism’ [referring
to President Serzh Sargsyan’s brother, businessman Sashik Sargsyan]
economic ideology found on the territory of the Republic of Armenia.
They wish to control all the country’s resources and turn Artsakh
into the property of a few oligarchs. Specific to the greed of
individuals who have recently become wealthy, they have also made
the army an integral part of their businesses. These people are not
concerned with increasing the fighting ability of the armed forces or
obtaining new types of weapons. The issue interesting them is about
who will provide the army with lentils, bread, or mea. In contrast
to all this, the security of the soldier on the border continues to
depend on ‘technical equipment’ from the First World War, which is
one of the main reasons for incidents and deaths on the border.
The existence of Bakonomics has turned into a crisis for relations
between Artsakh and the Diaspora. Multiple Armenian philanthropists
from the diaspora, who are no longer able to tolerate the level of
plunder which has passed the limits of reason, have refused to have
any connection with the corrupted authorities of Artsakh. The latter
specifically refers to wealthy businessmen residing in Russia, who
throughout the years have spent enormous sums with charitable intent
in Artsakh, to only see the results of their input in the increase of
supermarkets belonging to NKR’s oligarchs. It is not a coincidence
that the Hayastan Pan-Armenian fund’s annual fundraiser dinner in
Moscow did not take place last November.
Bakonomics is destructive for Artsakh. It prevents the peaceful
development and security of the country. Therefore, in the upcoming
Parliamentary elections, the main issue must be the ridding of the
Soviet warehouse manager mentality of the official-oligarch and the
formation of a national elite, who would be capable of defining all
the rules of the game in the economic sphere, secure property rights
of entrepreneurs, eliminate the current plunder on the state level,
struggle against all forms of corruption and create favorable business
conditions.
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