With the region of the Caucasus with its ongoing, and even deteriorating, crisis and instability and its strategic and economic importance increasingly at the front of the world's attention, this volume presents and discusses some of the complexities and problems arising in the region such as Islamic terrorists and al-Qaida. Scholars from different disciplines who specialise in the Caucasus analyze key topics such as: discussions of grass root perceptions the influence of informal power structures on ethnic conflicts in the Caucasus Russian policies towards Islam and their destabilising influence the influence of Islamic revival on the legal and social situations nationalism and the revival of pre- and sub-national identities shifts in identity as reflected in demography reasons for the Chechen victory in the first Chechen war the involvement of Islamic volunteers in Chechnya. With the situation in Chechnia likely to spread across the entire North Caucasus, this cutting edge work will be of great value in the near future and will interest political scientists and regional experts of Russia, Central Asia, Caucasus, Middle East and Turkey, as well as NGOs, government agencies and think tanks.
Author(s): Moshe Gammer
Edition: First Edition
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 256
Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
Illustrations......Page 8
Contributors......Page 10
Preface......Page 15
Abbreviations......Page 17
1 Informal power structures in Russia and ethno-political conflict in the Northern Caucasus......Page 20
2 Islam and the legal system in the Northwestern Caucasus......Page 38
3 ‘Re-Islamisation’ and ethno-nationalism: The Circassians (Adyghe) of the Northwestern Caucasus and their diaspora......Page 47
4 The Republic of Adygheia: Perceptions of rights, freedoms and life chances of ordinary people......Page 69
5 The events of November 1996 in Kabardino-Balkaria and their prehistory......Page 87
6 Russian policies towards Islamic extremism in the Northern Caucasus and destabilization in Kabardino-Balkaria......Page 105
7 Ideology and conflict: Chechen political nationalism prior to, and during, ten years of war......Page 121
8 The Orstkhoy revival: Identity and border dispute in the Northern Caucasus......Page 158
9 ‘I can fight, army against army’: The 1994–1996 Russo-Chechen war, strategies and misconceptions......Page 167
10 Allah’s foot soldiers: An assessment of the role of foreign fighters and Al-Qa‘ida in the Chechen insurgency......Page 175
11 From the challenge of nationalism to the challenge of Islam: The case of Daghestan......Page 198
12 ‘Wahhabis’, Democrats and everything in between: The development of Islamic activism in post-Soviet Azerbaijan......Page 213
13 Demography of North Caucasian Jewry: A note on population dynamics and shifting identity......Page 231
Glossary......Page 244
Index......Page 247
