Armine Ishkanian
Biographic Data
| ID | 376646 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Armine Ishkanian |
| GIVEN NAMES | Armine |
| FAMILY NAME | Ishkanian |
| SIGNATURE | ISHKANIAN A |
| AFFILIATIONS | London School of Economics and Political Science |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6449-8966 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 106 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Hierarchies of knowers and knowledges: Exploring the potential of academic practitioner collaborations in tackling knowledge inequalities
In this article, we examine why academics and practitioners researching inequalities choose to collaborate and to what extent such collaborations have the potential to address knowledge inequalities in the research process. We maintain that the mere act of collaboration does not inherently lead to the tackling of knowledge inequalities and that the motivations for collaboration matter. We argue that although in single collaborations partners can …
The role of academia practice partnerships in the well-being economy: Retracing synergies between health and social sciences using bibliometric analysis
Well-being economies develop policies at the intersection of health and socio-economic inequalities. These policies are often informed by data-driven approaches, such as quality-of-life indicators. However, despite great efforts in measurement, it is known that the perspectives of underserved and unhealthy populations are not always fully captured. This raises the question to what extent well-being economy policies, informed by data alone, can ad…
Why ideas matter: Exploring the potential and limits of local civil society agency in peacebuilding
Drawing on research conducted with a range of actors in Armenia during the aftermath of the 2020 war over Nagorno Karabakh, we examine the potential and limits of local agency peacebuilding. In examining how agency is manifested and constrained in situations of conflict, we draw on social and political theories of agency and power to consider the dialogic interplay between actors, structures and ideas. By adopting the framework of discursive inst…
Social Movements and Social Policy: New Research Horizons
Across the globe, movements are confronting states and elites, challenging inequalities and mobilising for greater justice, a stronger voice, and progressive policy changes. In this article, I bridge the divide between Social Policy and the interdisciplinary field of Social Movement Studies. I examine how and why social movements, as actors in policy fields and social movement theories, matter for social policy. I argue that research on social mo…
Who Needs the Experts? The Politics and Practices of Alternative Humanitarianism and Its Relationship to NGOs
Drawing on fieldwork in Greece, we examine the politics and practices of autonomous volunteering in the context of the migration crisis. This involves individuals engaging in activities to support migrants through non-registered, self-organized and self-governed groups that work independent from and in some cases, even in opposition to NGOs. We consider autonomous volunteering as a form of collective action and argue that it constitutes an altern…
Transnational welfare within and beyond the nation-state: Civil society responses to the migration crisis in Greece
This article advances understanding of how transnational welfare has emerged in practice within and in relation to the nation-state framework, focusing on the responses of civil society actors to the European migration crisis in Greece. It draws on in-depth interviews with different types of civil society actors engaged in activities in Greece during and since the 2015 period of the migration crisis, including national and international NGOs, loc…
The politics and practices of intersectional prefiguration in social movements: The case of Sisters Uncut
Considering contemporary movements as sites of struggle between attempts at inclusiveness and enduring tendencies to exclude and reproduce power hierarchies, this article examines how movement actors confront and tackle inequalities within their organisational spaces. Drawing on an in-depth study, which relied on Participatory Action Research methods, of the intersectional feminist anti-austerity group Sisters Uncut, the article analyses how acto…
Armenia's Unfinished Revolution
The revolution ... ended the hopelessness, apathy, and indifference that had come to characterize the post-Soviet period
Social Movements, Brexit and Social Policy
In this article, I examine the relationship between social movements, Brexit and social policy and consider how political and socio-economic developments since the 2008 financial crisis helped create a fertile ground for Brexit. I query the assumption that Brexit was simply a result of those left behind by globalisation and instead explore why and how actors from across the ideological spectrum supported Brexit and examine the sources of disconte…
Resisting neoliberalism? Movements against austerity and for democracy in Cairo, Athens and London
Drawing on interviews conducted with activists from Athens, Cairo and London in 2013, we examine activists’ understandings of, critiques of and concerns around neoliberal policies. We demonstrate that activists often imply, and sometimes explicitly formulate, a fundamental incompatibility between the current economic system and their conceptions of democracy, but also that ‘anti-neoliberal’ is a very inadequate label for describing their politica…
From Consensus to Dissensus: The Politics of Anti-austerity Activism in London and Its Relationship to Voluntary Organizations
This article examines how activism against austerity is organized and manifested in London. Given that anti-austerity activists are addressing issues related to social welfare, we examine whether there are alliances between the activists and voluntary organizations (VOs) that are working in that field. Examining the challenges involved in creating and sustaining alliances, we argue that the regulatory context alone is an insufficient explanation …
What does democracy mean? Activist views and practices in Athens, Cairo, London and Moscow
We shed light on the discontent with and the appeal of democracy by interviewing some of the most committed critical citizens: core activists in street protests. Based on interviews in Athens, Cairo, London, and Moscow, we found that they rejected representative democracy as insufficient, and believed democracy to entail having a voice and a responsibility to participate intensively in political decision-making. Activists saw themselves as engage…
Self-Determined Citizens? New Forms of Civic Activism and Citizenship in Armenia
This article examines the recent emergence and growth of grassroots social movements in Armenia which are locally known as ‘civic initiatives’. It considers what their emergence tells us about the development of civil society and the changing understandings and practices of citizenship in Armenia in the post-Soviet period. It analyses why civic initiatives explicitly reject and distance themselves from formal, professionalised NGOs and what new m…
Surreptitious Symbiosis: Engagement Between Activists and NGOs
Based on research conducted in Athens, Cairo, London and Yerevan, the article analyzes the relationship between activists engaged in street protests or direct action since 2011 and NGOs. It examines how activists relate to NGOs and whether it is possible to do sustained activism to bring about social change without becoming part of a ‘civil society industry.’ The article argues that while at first glance NGOs seem disconnected from recent street …
Neoliberalism and violence: The Big Society and the changing politics of domestic violence in England
Focusing on the domestic violence sector as a case study, this article examines how the Big Society agenda, coming alongside public spending cuts, is affecting the independence and ability of women’s organizations to engage in progressive policy shaping. By situating the analysis of the Big Society agenda within the broader context of international civil society strengthening programmes, the article considers how the processes currently unfolding…
The Big Society Debate: A New Agenda for Social Welfare
Production of Ethanol and Feed by High Dry Matter Hydrolysis and Fermentation of Palm Kernel Press Cake
Palm kernel press cake (PKC) is a residue from palm oil extraction presently only used as a low protein feed supplement. PKC contains 50% fermentable hexose sugars present in the form of glucan and mainly galactomannan. This makes PKC an interesting feedstock for processing into bioethanol or in other biorefinery processes. Using a combination of mannanase, beta-mannosidase, and cellulases, it was possible without any pretreatment to hydrolyze PK…
The backlash against civil society in the wake of the Long War on Terror
The enthusiasm for civil society that emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the spread of democratic regimes has been replaced in recent years by a backlash against civil society on many levels and fronts. This has particularly intensified since the attacks of 11 September 2001 and the ensuing global war on terror. This article examines the causes of this backlash within the context of the 'Long War on Terro…
En-gendering Civil Society and Democracy-Building: The Anti-Domestic Violence Campaign in Armenia
Journal Article En-gendering Civil Society and Democracy-Building: The Anti-Domestic Violence Campaign in Armenia Get access Armine Ishkanian Armine Ishkanian Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, Volume 14, Issue 4, Winter 2007, Pages 488–525, https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxm020 Published: 27 November 2007
Gender, Civil Society, and Participation: Introduction to the Special Issue of Social Politics
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society - Volume 14, Number 4, Winter 2007
Social policy and development in Central Asia and the Caucasus
This special issue of Central Asian Survey was inspired by a book launch for the Social Policy in a Development Context series produced by the UN Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)
Home-Coming and Goings: A Review Essay
Home-Coming and Goings
Homecomings: Unsettling Paths of Return examines various types of return migration, including the return of war refugees, political exiles, and diasporics to their real or imagined homelands, as well as "roots tourism" and forms of long-distance nationalism that are collectively, if not precisely, referred to as "homecomings." According to one of the editors, Anders Stefansson, return movements across time and space have been ignored in migration…
Mobile Motherhood: Armenian Women's Labor Migration in the Post-Soviet Period
With the lifting of the Iron Curtain, the citizens of the former Soviet Union had to imagine and construct new lives for themselves; unlike before, these lives could be imagined and lived practically anywhere in the world. While conducting research in Armenia, I learned about men and women who had taken jobs in toy factories in Portugal, canneries in Spain, and factories in Germany. Many people I met in Armenia talked about how they, too, would e…
Surreptitious Symbiosis: Engagement Between Activists and NGOs
Based on research conducted in Athens, Cairo, London and Yerevan, the article analyzes the relationship between activists engaged in street protests or direct action since 2011 and NGOs. It examines how activists relate to NGOs and whether it is possible to do sustained activism to bring about social change without becoming part of a ‘civil society industry.’ The article argues that while at first glance NGOs seem disconnected from recent street …
The politics and practices of intersectional prefiguration in social movements: The case of Sisters Uncut
Considering contemporary movements as sites of struggle between attempts at inclusiveness and enduring tendencies to exclude and reproduce power hierarchies, this article examines how movement actors confront and tackle inequalities within their organisational spaces. Drawing on an in-depth study, which relied on Participatory Action Research methods, of the intersectional feminist anti-austerity group Sisters Uncut, the article analyses how acto…
Self-Determined Citizens? New Forms of Civic Activism and Citizenship in Armenia
This article examines the recent emergence and growth of grassroots social movements in Armenia which are locally known as ‘civic initiatives’. It considers what their emergence tells us about the development of civil society and the changing understandings and practices of citizenship in Armenia in the post-Soviet period. It analyses why civic initiatives explicitly reject and distance themselves from formal, professionalised NGOs and what new m…
Who Needs the Experts? The Politics and Practices of Alternative Humanitarianism and Its Relationship to NGOs
Drawing on fieldwork in Greece, we examine the politics and practices of autonomous volunteering in the context of the migration crisis. This involves individuals engaging in activities to support migrants through non-registered, self-organized and self-governed groups that work independent from and in some cases, even in opposition to NGOs. We consider autonomous volunteering as a form of collective action and argue that it constitutes an altern…
Transnational welfare within and beyond the nation-state: Civil society responses to the migration crisis in Greece
This article advances understanding of how transnational welfare has emerged in practice within and in relation to the nation-state framework, focusing on the responses of civil society actors to the European migration crisis in Greece. It draws on in-depth interviews with different types of civil society actors engaged in activities in Greece during and since the 2015 period of the migration crisis, including national and international NGOs, loc…
En-gendering Civil Society and Democracy-Building: The Anti-Domestic Violence Campaign in Armenia
Journal Article En-gendering Civil Society and Democracy-Building: The Anti-Domestic Violence Campaign in Armenia Get access Armine Ishkanian Armine Ishkanian Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, Volume 14, Issue 4, Winter 2007, Pages 488–525, https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxm020 Published: 27 November 2007
Resisting neoliberalism? Movements against austerity and for democracy in Cairo, Athens and London
Drawing on interviews conducted with activists from Athens, Cairo and London in 2013, we examine activists’ understandings of, critiques of and concerns around neoliberal policies. We demonstrate that activists often imply, and sometimes explicitly formulate, a fundamental incompatibility between the current economic system and their conceptions of democracy, but also that ‘anti-neoliberal’ is a very inadequate label for describing their politica…
What does democracy mean? Activist views and practices in Athens, Cairo, London and Moscow
We shed light on the discontent with and the appeal of democracy by interviewing some of the most committed critical citizens: core activists in street protests. Based on interviews in Athens, Cairo, London, and Moscow, we found that they rejected representative democracy as insufficient, and believed democracy to entail having a voice and a responsibility to participate intensively in political decision-making. Activists saw themselves as engage…
Neoliberalism and violence: The Big Society and the changing politics of domestic violence in England
Focusing on the domestic violence sector as a case study, this article examines how the Big Society agenda, coming alongside public spending cuts, is affecting the independence and ability of women’s organizations to engage in progressive policy shaping. By situating the analysis of the Big Society agenda within the broader context of international civil society strengthening programmes, the article considers how the processes currently unfolding…
The backlash against civil society in the wake of the Long War on Terror
The enthusiasm for civil society that emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the spread of democratic regimes has been replaced in recent years by a backlash against civil society on many levels and fronts. This has particularly intensified since the attacks of 11 September 2001 and the ensuing global war on terror. This article examines the causes of this backlash within the context of the 'Long War on Terro…
Why ideas matter: Exploring the potential and limits of local civil society agency in peacebuilding
Drawing on research conducted with a range of actors in Armenia during the aftermath of the 2020 war over Nagorno Karabakh, we examine the potential and limits of local agency peacebuilding. In examining how agency is manifested and constrained in situations of conflict, we draw on social and political theories of agency and power to consider the dialogic interplay between actors, structures and ideas. By adopting the framework of discursive inst…
From Consensus to Dissensus: The Politics of Anti-austerity Activism in London and Its Relationship to Voluntary Organizations
This article examines how activism against austerity is organized and manifested in London. Given that anti-austerity activists are addressing issues related to social welfare, we examine whether there are alliances between the activists and voluntary organizations (VOs) that are working in that field. Examining the challenges involved in creating and sustaining alliances, we argue that the regulatory context alone is an insufficient explanation …
Social Movements and Social Policy: New Research Horizons
Across the globe, movements are confronting states and elites, challenging inequalities and mobilising for greater justice, a stronger voice, and progressive policy changes. In this article, I bridge the divide between Social Policy and the interdisciplinary field of Social Movement Studies. I examine how and why social movements, as actors in policy fields and social movement theories, matter for social policy. I argue that research on social mo…
Mobile Motherhood: Armenian Women's Labor Migration in the Post-Soviet Period
With the lifting of the Iron Curtain, the citizens of the former Soviet Union had to imagine and construct new lives for themselves; unlike before, these lives could be imagined and lived practically anywhere in the world. While conducting research in Armenia, I learned about men and women who had taken jobs in toy factories in Portugal, canneries in Spain, and factories in Germany. Many people I met in Armenia talked about how they, too, would e…
Gender, Civil Society, and Participation: Introduction to the Special Issue of Social Politics
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society - Volume 14, Number 4, Winter 2007
Social Movements, Brexit and Social Policy
In this article, I examine the relationship between social movements, Brexit and social policy and consider how political and socio-economic developments since the 2008 financial crisis helped create a fertile ground for Brexit. I query the assumption that Brexit was simply a result of those left behind by globalisation and instead explore why and how actors from across the ideological spectrum supported Brexit and examine the sources of disconte…
Mobile Motherhood: Armenian Women's Labor Migration in the Post-Soviet Period
With the lifting of the Iron Curtain, the citizens of the former Soviet Union had to imagine and construct new lives for themselves; unlike before, these lives could be imagined and lived practically anywhere in the world. While conducting research in Armenia, I learned about men and women who had taken jobs in toy factories in Portugal, canneries in Spain, and factories in Germany. Many people I met in Armenia talked about how they, too, would e…
Home-Coming and Goings: A Review Essay
Home-Coming and Goings
Homecomings: Unsettling Paths of Return examines various types of return migration, including the return of war refugees, political exiles, and diasporics to their real or imagined homelands, as well as "roots tourism" and forms of long-distance nationalism that are collectively, if not precisely, referred to as "homecomings." According to one of the editors, Anders Stefansson, return movements across time and space have been ignored in migration…
Social policy and development in Central Asia and the Caucasus
This special issue of Central Asian Survey was inspired by a book launch for the Social Policy in a Development Context series produced by the UN Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)
En-gendering Civil Society and Democracy-Building: The Anti-Domestic Violence Campaign in Armenia
Journal Article En-gendering Civil Society and Democracy-Building: The Anti-Domestic Violence Campaign in Armenia Get access Armine Ishkanian Armine Ishkanian Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, Volume 14, Issue 4, Winter 2007, Pages 488–525, https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxm020 Published: 27 November 2007
Gender, Civil Society, and Participation: Introduction to the Special Issue of Social Politics
Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State and Society - Volume 14, Number 4, Winter 2007
The backlash against civil society in the wake of the Long War on Terror
The enthusiasm for civil society that emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the spread of democratic regimes has been replaced in recent years by a backlash against civil society on many levels and fronts. This has particularly intensified since the attacks of 11 September 2001 and the ensuing global war on terror. This article examines the causes of this backlash within the context of the 'Long War on Terro…
Production of Ethanol and Feed by High Dry Matter Hydrolysis and Fermentation of Palm Kernel Press Cake
Palm kernel press cake (PKC) is a residue from palm oil extraction presently only used as a low protein feed supplement. PKC contains 50% fermentable hexose sugars present in the form of glucan and mainly galactomannan. This makes PKC an interesting feedstock for processing into bioethanol or in other biorefinery processes. Using a combination of mannanase, beta-mannosidase, and cellulases, it was possible without any pretreatment to hydrolyze PK…
The Big Society Debate: A New Agenda for Social Welfare
Surreptitious Symbiosis: Engagement Between Activists and NGOs
Based on research conducted in Athens, Cairo, London and Yerevan, the article analyzes the relationship between activists engaged in street protests or direct action since 2011 and NGOs. It examines how activists relate to NGOs and whether it is possible to do sustained activism to bring about social change without becoming part of a ‘civil society industry.’ The article argues that while at first glance NGOs seem disconnected from recent street …
Neoliberalism and violence: The Big Society and the changing politics of domestic violence in England
Focusing on the domestic violence sector as a case study, this article examines how the Big Society agenda, coming alongside public spending cuts, is affecting the independence and ability of women’s organizations to engage in progressive policy shaping. By situating the analysis of the Big Society agenda within the broader context of international civil society strengthening programmes, the article considers how the processes currently unfolding…
Self-Determined Citizens? New Forms of Civic Activism and Citizenship in Armenia
This article examines the recent emergence and growth of grassroots social movements in Armenia which are locally known as ‘civic initiatives’. It considers what their emergence tells us about the development of civil society and the changing understandings and practices of citizenship in Armenia in the post-Soviet period. It analyses why civic initiatives explicitly reject and distance themselves from formal, professionalised NGOs and what new m…
From Consensus to Dissensus: The Politics of Anti-austerity Activism in London and Its Relationship to Voluntary Organizations
This article examines how activism against austerity is organized and manifested in London. Given that anti-austerity activists are addressing issues related to social welfare, we examine whether there are alliances between the activists and voluntary organizations (VOs) that are working in that field. Examining the challenges involved in creating and sustaining alliances, we argue that the regulatory context alone is an insufficient explanation …
What does democracy mean? Activist views and practices in Athens, Cairo, London and Moscow
We shed light on the discontent with and the appeal of democracy by interviewing some of the most committed critical citizens: core activists in street protests. Based on interviews in Athens, Cairo, London, and Moscow, we found that they rejected representative democracy as insufficient, and believed democracy to entail having a voice and a responsibility to participate intensively in political decision-making. Activists saw themselves as engage…
Armenia's Unfinished Revolution
The revolution ... ended the hopelessness, apathy, and indifference that had come to characterize the post-Soviet period
Social Movements, Brexit and Social Policy
In this article, I examine the relationship between social movements, Brexit and social policy and consider how political and socio-economic developments since the 2008 financial crisis helped create a fertile ground for Brexit. I query the assumption that Brexit was simply a result of those left behind by globalisation and instead explore why and how actors from across the ideological spectrum supported Brexit and examine the sources of disconte…
Resisting neoliberalism? Movements against austerity and for democracy in Cairo, Athens and London
Drawing on interviews conducted with activists from Athens, Cairo and London in 2013, we examine activists’ understandings of, critiques of and concerns around neoliberal policies. We demonstrate that activists often imply, and sometimes explicitly formulate, a fundamental incompatibility between the current economic system and their conceptions of democracy, but also that ‘anti-neoliberal’ is a very inadequate label for describing their politica…
The politics and practices of intersectional prefiguration in social movements: The case of Sisters Uncut
Considering contemporary movements as sites of struggle between attempts at inclusiveness and enduring tendencies to exclude and reproduce power hierarchies, this article examines how movement actors confront and tackle inequalities within their organisational spaces. Drawing on an in-depth study, which relied on Participatory Action Research methods, of the intersectional feminist anti-austerity group Sisters Uncut, the article analyses how acto…
Who Needs the Experts? The Politics and Practices of Alternative Humanitarianism and Its Relationship to NGOs
Drawing on fieldwork in Greece, we examine the politics and practices of autonomous volunteering in the context of the migration crisis. This involves individuals engaging in activities to support migrants through non-registered, self-organized and self-governed groups that work independent from and in some cases, even in opposition to NGOs. We consider autonomous volunteering as a form of collective action and argue that it constitutes an altern…
Transnational welfare within and beyond the nation-state: Civil society responses to the migration crisis in Greece
This article advances understanding of how transnational welfare has emerged in practice within and in relation to the nation-state framework, focusing on the responses of civil society actors to the European migration crisis in Greece. It draws on in-depth interviews with different types of civil society actors engaged in activities in Greece during and since the 2015 period of the migration crisis, including national and international NGOs, loc…
Social Movements and Social Policy: New Research Horizons
Across the globe, movements are confronting states and elites, challenging inequalities and mobilising for greater justice, a stronger voice, and progressive policy changes. In this article, I bridge the divide between Social Policy and the interdisciplinary field of Social Movement Studies. I examine how and why social movements, as actors in policy fields and social movement theories, matter for social policy. I argue that research on social mo…
The role of academia practice partnerships in the well-being economy: Retracing synergies between health and social sciences using bibliometric analysis
Well-being economies develop policies at the intersection of health and socio-economic inequalities. These policies are often informed by data-driven approaches, such as quality-of-life indicators. However, despite great efforts in measurement, it is known that the perspectives of underserved and unhealthy populations are not always fully captured. This raises the question to what extent well-being economy policies, informed by data alone, can ad…
Why ideas matter: Exploring the potential and limits of local civil society agency in peacebuilding
Drawing on research conducted with a range of actors in Armenia during the aftermath of the 2020 war over Nagorno Karabakh, we examine the potential and limits of local agency peacebuilding. In examining how agency is manifested and constrained in situations of conflict, we draw on social and political theories of agency and power to consider the dialogic interplay between actors, structures and ideas. By adopting the framework of discursive inst…
Hierarchies of knowers and knowledges: Exploring the potential of academic practitioner collaborations in tackling knowledge inequalities
In this article, we examine why academics and practitioners researching inequalities choose to collaborate and to what extent such collaborations have the potential to address knowledge inequalities in the research process. We maintain that the mere act of collaboration does not inherently lead to the tackling of knowledge inequalities and that the motivations for collaboration matter. We argue that although in single collaborations partners can …
Political science (22 works) · Sociology (19 works) · Politics (18 works) · Law (15 works) · Law (14 works) · Civil society (12 works) · Political economy (12 works) · Public Administration (7 works) · History (6 works) · Public Administration (6 works)