After 1999 the situation in then relatively stable Dagestan started to deteriorate swiftly. However, unlike in the cases of previous separatist movements which sprung up in some parts of the Russian Federation after the demise of the USSS, Dagestani separatists did not officially gather under the flags of nation but under the flags of Islam. Soon, Dagestan entered a period of instability and violence which turned into a vicious circle of bloodshed. In a short period of time, Dagestan radically turned from stability to large scale violence, which makes it necessary for us to understand the factors responsible for the current situation. The following thesis analyses the development of Dagestan after the collapse of the USSR, from the stable period of the 90s till these days, which are characterized by omnipresent violence. Employing the theoretical knowledge collected by other scholars and analyzing similar separatist movements in other parts of the post-socialist world, taking into account the specifics the North Caucasus region, this study attempts to identify the factors (grassroots) which caused the rise of Dagestani insurgence. In comparison with the Chechen separatism of the early 90s, it uncovers the roots and the real face of the "new wave" of insurgency which flooded Dagestan and started to...

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This thesis aims to evaluate and consider the topic of human rights journalism conducted by women in Chechnya. The primary research question that will be supported by this research, is whether or not Anna Politkovskaya's gender impacted her work, the reception of her work, and her overall experience as a human rights advocate in Chechnya. Anna Politkovskaya is being used as a primary case study due to the volume and breadth of the reports that she produced, and because she was the most well-known reporter in Chechnya during the Second Chechen War, giving her a wider audience. The work of other female journalists will be covered, but those works will serve a secondary purpose of aiding in looking at how Politkovskaya's journalistic legacy impacted other female journalists within Chechnya. The current state of affairs within the Chechen Republic is one of limited civil liberties and increasing violence on behalf of the authoritarian state government towards advocacy groups and opposition parties. The environment for human rights has not notably improved since the official conclusion of the Second Chechen War, but the level of media attention dedicated to issues there has dramatically decreased. Chechnya is currently lacking a voice of passionate reason, and as a result lacks an effective advocate for civilian interests, which was the role previously filled by Politkovskaya. / Master of Arts

The aim of this diploma thesis is to answer the question why the crisis caused by the Chechen struggle for independence gradually escalated into war, while the rest of North Caucasus remained relatively calm, despite the predictions of many authors. Also to determine to whether extend the repetition of Chechen scenario is nowadays possible. Or in other words what are the odds that a new ethnopolitical conflict will erupt in some other Muslim autonomous republic in the North Caucasus. The answers to these questions are sought via factors causing the emergence of ethnic conflict, as were defined by Svante E. Cornell in his book Autonomy and Conflict: Ethnoterritoriality and Separatism in the South Caucasus - Cases in Georgia. These factors are continually confronted with empirical data, which are provided by the case study of Chechen conflict in the first part of the thesis. Presence or absence of those factors in other Muslim autonomous republics is examined by method of Process Tracing. The data obtained are then processed quantitatively, in the way that presence or absence of the factor in question by a certain score.

Die internationale Staatengemeinschaft steht Sezessionsbestrebungen zur Aufspaltung bestehender Staaten gewöhnlich ablehnend gegenüber. Gleichzeitig wendet sie in vielen Ländern Instrumente der Entwicklungspolitik an und greift so auch in den dortigen politischen Prozess ein. Untersucht wird, inwiefern Entwicklungspolitik so gestaltet werden kann, dass sie nicht, quasi als Nebenwirkung, einer Sezessionsbewegung zum Durchbruch verhilft. Betrachtet wird dabei neben der gezielten Förderung wirtschaftlichen Wachstums auch das Instrument der Dezentralisierung, das oft als Mittel zur „Beruhigung“ separatistischer Bestrebungen vorgeschlagen wird. Zuvor jedoch wird aufgewiesen, dass eine Politik, die Sezessionen verhindern will, zumindest in vielen Fällen auch moralphilosophisch schlüssig begründet werden kann. Den Abschluss der Arbeit bilden drei Fallstudien zu Sezessionen auf dem Gebiet der ehemaligen Sowjetunion. / The international community is usually set against secessionist movements that aim at the splitting up of existing states. At the same time, in many countries instruments of development policy are applied, that automatically influence the political process there. The investigation here seeks to answer the question whether development policies can be designed in a way that they don’t unwillingly trigger secession as a side effect. In doing so, the focus is not only on growth-enhancing policies, but also on the instrument of decentralization, which is often presented as a tool suited to appease separatist movements. Prior to that, though, it is demonstrated that a policy aiming at the prevention of secessions can – in many cases at least – be justified with sound arguments of moral philosophy. The concluding chapter looks at three case studies of secessions that have been attempted on the territory of the former Soviet Union.

During Soviet Russia, there was an active policy of forced assimilation of minorities into one cultural identity: Russian. This loss of cultural identity came in many forms of resettlement, deportation, discriminatory language policies and economic practices. All of these policies and actions led to large groups of people from the North Caucasus giving up their unique cultural identity and adopting the Russian cultural identity. Many of the policies and actions of the Soviet Union reflected the actions of the United States during the forced assimilation process of the Native Americans. Throughout this process of losing their cultural identity, the people of the North Caucasus could have maintained their unique cultural identity at home or in the local school system, but chose not to for various reasons. This choice to shed their own cultural identity and adopt the Russian identity has had detrimental effect s on the region and some cultures are on the brink of extinction. Not all the people of the North Caucasus willingly assimilated and accepted the Russian way of life; the Chechens have fought the Russians since their first excursion into the North Caucasus and continue to fight to this day for independence and freedom. / text