Haigazian University Press, announced the publication of its 62nd book, The Armenian Diaspora and Modern Political Systems, by Dr. Jon Armajani, professor of Theology in the undergraduate Department of Theology at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University in Minnesota, USA. His books include Shia Islam and Politics: Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon (2020); Modern Islamist Movements: History, Religion, and Politics (2012); and Dynamic Islam: Liberal Muslim Perspectives in a Transnational Age (2004).
The book examines the relationships among the Armenian diaspora, constitutions, and political systems in twelve countries in the Middle East, Africa, and eastern Mediterranean which have significant Armenian populations. Within this framework, the book analyzes minority rights, cultural rights, freedom of press, speech, and religion as well as citizenship, residence status, immigration and emigration, and personal status laws related to marriage, divorce, and inheritance. At the same time, the book considers the histories of each of the constitutions, the contexts in which they were drafted, and the respective governments which relate to those constitutions, while analyzing the contexts in which Armenians, and other religious and ethnic minorities, relate to those constitutions and pertinent laws. The book also analyzes various aspects of diaspora Armenians’ relationships with Armenian institutions as well as the people and institutions that comprise the dominant cultures of the countries, in which Armenians live. Much of this book is based on papers that the author presented at conferences on the Armenian Diaspora between 2015 and 2022, which were sponsored by the Armenian Diaspora Research Center at Haigazian University in Beirut, Lebanon.