5-78950-028-5. / In kyrill. Schr., russ.

978-5-94434-096-2. / In kyrill. Schr., russ.

A slight abbreviation of the author's Habilitationsschrift Ruhr-Universität, Bochum, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [414]-446) and index.

Zugl.: Mannheim, Universiẗat, Magisterarbeit.

This dissertation seeks to analyse the upsurge of insurgent violence in the North Caucasus following the end of the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya in 2009. By looking at the development of radical Islam and the impact of the Chechen spillover in the region, this research suggests that these factors should be analysed and contextualized in each republic. By comparing the cases of Kabardino-Balkaria, Ingushetia, and Dagestan, this dissertation seeks to demonstrate the importance of vendetta, criminal activity, religious repression and corruption as local factors that contribute to the increase of violence. By focusing on the case of Dagestan, the author proposes a political ethnographic approach to study the mechanisms and details of religious repression and corruption in everyday life. This analysis permits us to map out the different pathways towards the participation in insurgent groups in Dagestan. By doing so, it demonstrates that one can identify three different generations of insurgent fighters in Dagestan. This dissertation demonstrates that the role of Salafist ideology is often marginal in the early stages of the process of violent radicalisation, and slowly gains importance as the involvement in violence increases. The emphasis should be placed on vengeance and religious repression as crucial triggering factors as they provoke a cognitive opening for young people in Dagestan to engage in violence.

This dissertation seeks to analyse the upsurge of insurgent violence in the North Caucasus following the end of the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya in 2009. By looking at the development of radical Islam and the impact of the Chechen spillover in the region, this research suggests that these factors should be analysed and contextualized in each republic. By comparing the cases of Kabardino-Balkaria, Ingushetia, and Dagestan, this dissertation seeks to demonstrate the importance of vendetta, criminal activity, religious repression and corruption as local factors that contribute to the increase of violence. By focusing on the case of Dagestan, the author proposes a political ethnographic approach to study the mechanisms and details of religious repression and corruption in everyday life. This analysis permits us to map out the different pathways towards the participation in insurgent groups in Dagestan. By doing so, it demonstrates that one can identify three different generations of insurgent fighters in Dagestan. This dissertation demonstrates that the role of Salafist ideology is often marginal in the early stages of the process of violent radicalisation, and slowly gains importance as the involvement in violence increases. The emphasis should be placed on vengeance and religious repression as crucial triggering factors as they provoke a cognitive opening for young people in Dagestan to engage in violence.

Islam in the North Caucasus: History and Contemporary Trends on example of Kabardino- Balkaria and Dagestan The following thesis focuses on selected key aspects of Islam in the North Caucasus, with emphasis on two North Caucasus republics - Kabardino-Balkaria on the west and Dagestan on the east. The first part will follow the penetration of Islam in the North Caucasus, its role in the resistance against the Russian empire and the impact religion had on traditional Caucasian society. In the second part it will be analyzed current trends of Islam in the region, the mutual influence of religion and socio-political situation and the relation between traditional Islam and its radical forms. Work will be based on the study of relevant literature, press and fieldwork is also assumed. Key words: North Caucasus, islam, islamism, Kabardino-Balkaria Republic, Dagestan

This dissertation seeks to analyse the upsurge of insurgent violence in the North Caucasus following the end of the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya in 2009. By looking at the development of radical Islam and the impact of the Chechen spillover in the region, this research suggests that these factors should be analysed and contextualized in each republic. By comparing the cases of Kabardino-Balkaria, Ingushetia, and Dagestan, this dissertation seeks to demonstrate the importance of vendetta, criminal activity, religious repression and corruption as local factors that contribute to the increase of violence. By focusing on the case of Dagestan, the author proposes a political ethnographic approach to study the mechanisms and details of religious repression and corruption in everyday life. This analysis permits us to map out the different pathways towards the participation in insurgent groups in Dagestan. By doing so, it demonstrates that one can identify three different generations of insurgent fighters in Dagestan. This dissertation demonstrates that the role of Salafist ideology is often marginal in the early stages of the process of violent radicalisation, and slowly gains importance as the involvement in violence increases. The emphasis should be placed on vengeance and religious repression as crucial triggering factors as they provoke a cognitive opening for young people in Dagestan to engage in violence.

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...

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.