Yerevan—The Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) every summer provides a number of current students from both Armenia and abroad with an opportunity to intern at the Center. The outgoing year proved no exception, and ACNIS hosted Zachary Antoyan (US)—who attends California State University Polytechnic, San Luis Obispo, and pursues majors in Political Science and Philosophy—and Levon Agatyan (Armenia)—who is enrolled at the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University, Faculty of Political Science, Department of Political Processes and Technologies. Antoyan’s analysis that he developed over the course of the internship at ACNIS probes into “The Virtues of Being Stubborn: Pessimism in Armenian Political Culture.” The primary source of his research includes personal communication with ACNIS director of research Manvel Sargsian, senior analyst Hovsep Khurshudian, analysts Saro Saroyan, Edgar Vardanian, and Armine Ghazarian. Antoyan visited Armenia in the framework of Summer Internship Program of the American Assembly of America. During his one-month research stay at ACNIS, Agatyan looked at “The National Security Strategy of the Republic of Armenia: Facts and Reality.” Khurshudian and Saroyan contributed to his work as well.

---