The year 2011 was not rich with uproarious events for the South Caucasus, Alexander Karavayev, head of Information and Analytical Center for the Study of Socio-Political Processes in the Post-Soviet Space of Moscow State University, told Armenian News-NEWS.am, stressing that new trends did not emerge and, instead, the known ones strengthened. 

“The main trend in the South Caucasus states in 2011 was the future strengthening of the positions of the incumbent authorities. [Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili, in all likelihood, has begun the scenario of leaving the President’s office and pushing forward for this office [capital] Tbilisi’s Mayor Giga Ugulava,” the analyst noted.    

Speaking about Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Karavayev expressed a view that the country’s leader is consolidating the forces prior to the parliamentary elections to be held this spring.  

“Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is centralizing the societal policy mechanisms on the youth, which likewise can be considered an investment in the upcoming election period,” the political scientist maintained.  

“In terms of regional geopolitics and macroeconomics, the well-known political stability in 2011 is a pause at the threshold of the next wave of great developments. It is difficult to tell whether this tranquility would stretch into 2012,” Alexander Karavayev concluded.