A controversial video featuring masked individuals making threats against the ruling political team recently spread across the internet. The footage was rapidly distributed by pro-government circles, while representatives of the ruling authorities, including Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, emphasized the Artsakh dialect used by the participants when commenting on the video. Human rights advocates, meanwhile, expressed concern that such emphasis could have dangerous consequences and contribute to the formation of hostility toward Armenians from Artsakh.
Against this backdrop, questions arise as to why the image of an “internal enemy” or a “source of threat” is being introduced into political discourse during this particular stage of the election campaign and what political goals may stand behind such messaging.
According to political strategist Vigen Hakobyan, the video fits into the logic of classic political technologies frequently used during election periods.
He argues that when authorities feel they lack sufficient resources to secure political reproduction and begin to fear losing elections, they usually resort to two main instruments.
The “external threat” scenario
According to Hakobyan, the first instrument is the “externalization of threat” scenario — promoting narratives about a prevented coup attempt, a failed assassination plot, or similar dangers.
In his assessment, this is a common mechanism in political systems similar to Armenia’s, where the authorities attempt to demonstrate that organized forces are operating against them.
Such an approach allows the government, on the one hand, to strengthen its position in the eyes of society and, on the other, to create “legitimate” grounds for applying forceful or repressive measures against opponents.
Deepening internal divisions
The second instrument, according to the political strategist, is the intensification of internal social divisions.
In the Armenian context, this mainly concerns the sharpening of the “Armenians of Armenia versus Karabakh Armenians” divide.
Hakobyan argues that this approach attempts to redirect part of society’s social and political dissatisfaction toward a specific group — Armenians from Artsakh — by associating them with some of the country’s systemic problems.
According to him, the narrative of “we supported them and now they are ungrateful” becomes a tool for internal consolidation and for channeling public frustration toward a particular target group.
Hakobyan believes the widely circulated video combined both of these mechanisms: the construction of an “external threat” narrative alongside the deepening of internal social divisions.