Dagestan : Russian Hegemony and Islamic Resistance in the North Caucasus

Like other majority Muslim regions of the former Soviet Union, the republic of Dagestan, on Russia's southern frontier, has become contested territory in a hegemonic competition between Moscow and resurgent Islam. In this authoritative book the leading experts on Dagestan provide a path breaking study of this volatile state far from the world's gaze. The largest and most populous of the North Caucasian republics, bordered on the west by Chechnya and on the east by the Caspian Sea, Dagastan is almost completely mountainous. With no majority nationality, the republic developed a distinctive system of calibrated power relations among ethnic groups and with Moscow, a system that has been undermined by the spillover of the wars in Chechnya, Wahhabi and Islamist recruiting efforts targeting youth, and Moscow's reassertion of the'power vertical'. Underdevelopment, high birthrates, transiting pipelines, and the rising incidence of terrorist violence and assassinations add to the explosive potential of the region. Authors Ware and Kisriev combine analysis of the dynamics of domination and resistance, and the distinctive forms of social organization characteristic of mountain societies that may be applicable to other areas such as Afghanistan. They draw on decades of field research, interviews, and data to offer unique perspective on the civilizational collision course under way in the Caucasus today. Half-title ......Page 2 Title ......Page 4 Copyright ......Page 5 Dedication ......Page 6 Contents ......Page 8 Acknowledgments ......Page 10 Vertical versus Horizontal ......Page 20 The Arrival of Islam ......Page 21 A History of Imperial Failures ......Page 24 Confrontation and Compromise Among Competing Forms of Social Organization ......Page 26 2. Murids and Tsars: Islamic Ideology as an Antidote to Russian Colonialism ......Page 31 The Repression of the Islamic Leadership Under Military Rule ......Page 38 Revolutions and the Resurgence of Islamic Organization ......Page 40 3. Soviet Rule in the North Caucasus: Betrayal of Islam and Construction of Ethnicity ......Page 43 The Betrayal of Islam in Dagestan ......Page 45 Soviet Ethnic Construction and Subsequent Disintegration ......Page 48 Ethnic Construction and Accommodation in Dagestan ......Page 53 4. Democratic Dagestan: Ethnic Accommodation in the Constitutional Djamaat ......Page 56 The Collapse of Central Authority and the Rise of Ethnic Politics ......Page 59 New Roles for the Traditional Djamaat ......Page 64 Renewed Nationalism and Recycled Elites ......Page 68 Ethnic Protests and Emerging Elites ......Page 71 Magomedov’s Political Art ......Page 74 The Constitutional Djamaat ......Page 78 The Consociational Djamaat ......Page 79 Dagestan’s Electoral System ......Page 82 Consociational Inadvertency ......Page 87 The Corruption of Dagestan’s Executive ......Page 91 Electoral Corruption in Dagestan ......Page 97 Conclusion ......Page 103 5. The Islamic Factor: Revival and Radicalism ......Page 105 Arrival of Wahhabism ......Page 107 Wahhabi Doctrines and Ideology ......Page 109 Wahhabism’s Ambivalent Appeal ......Page 110 Origins of Wahhabism in Dagestan ......Page 113 Wahhabism from a Dagestani Perspective ......Page 126 Elites’ Views of Wahhabism ......Page 131 6. Conflict and Catharsis: Why Dagestanis Fought to Remain in Russia ......Page 138 Dagestani Opinions ......Page 146 Northern Exposure ......Page 157 Cross-Border Political Realignment in Chechnya and Dagestan ......Page 159 Claims of the Chechen-Akkins in Novolakskii Raion ......Page 162 Official Recognition of the DUMD ......Page 169 Dagestan’s “Northern Alliance” ......Page 171 7. Russian Recentralization and Islamic Resistance: Stepping on the Same Rake ......Page 173 Dagestan’s Ethnic Electoral Districts in the Russian: Constitutional Court ......Page 175 Ethnic Rights ......Page 178 Dagestan’s National Assembly Election: March 16, 2003 ......Page 187 Parties and Presidents ......Page 196 Terrorist Attacks and Assassinations ......Page 202 After Beslan ......Page 207 The Federal Report on Conditions in Dagestan ......Page 208 Regime Change ......Page 212 8. Conclusion: A Gathering Darkness ......Page 220 A New President and a New Bureaucracy ......Page 221 Why Is Dagestan Destabilizing? ......Page 224 Appendix: Miskindji Village Protests ......Page 234 Notes ......Page 244 Index ......Page 260 About the Authors ......Page 268

Like other majority-Muslim regions of the former Soviet Union, the multiethnic republic of Dagestan, on Russia's southern frontier, has become contested territory in a hegemonic competition between Moscow and resurgent Islam. In this authoritative book the leading experts on Dagestan provide a path breaking study of this volatile land far from the world's gaze.

The largest and most populous of the North Caucasian republics, bordered on the west by Chechnya and on the east by the Caspian Sea, Dagastan is almost completely mountainous. The republic developed a distinctive system of calibrated power relations among ethnic groups and with Moscow - a system that has been undermined by the spillover of the wars in Chechnya, Islamist recruiting efforts targeting youth, and Moscow's reassertion of the "power vertical." Underdevelopment, high birthrates, transiting pipelines, and the rising incidence of terrorist violence and assassinations add to the explosive mix.

Authors Ware and Kisriev combine analysis of the dynamics of domination and resistance, and the distinctive forms of social organization characteristic of mountain societies that may be applicable to other areas such as Afghanistan. They draw on decades of field research, interviews, and data to offer unique perspective on the civilizational collision course under way in the Caucasus today.

Mountainous, Dagestan has become contested territory in a hegemonic competition between Moscow and resurgent Islam. With no majority nationality, the republic developed a distinctive system of calibrated power relations among ethnic groups and with Moscow, a system that has been undermined by the spillover of the wars in Chechnya, Wahhabi and Islamist recruiting efforts targeting youth, and Moscow's reassertion of the "power vertical." Underdevelopment, high birthrates, transiting pipelines, and the rising incidence of terrorist violence and assassinations add to the explosive potential of the region. The authors combine analysis of the dynamics of domination and resistance, and the distinctive forms of social organization characteristic of mountain societies that may be applicable to other areas such as Afghanistan. They offer a unique perspective on the civilizational collision course under way in the Caucasus today The Caucasian republic of Dagestan, on Russia's southern frontier, has become contested territory in a hegemonic competition between Moscow and resurgent Islam. In this authoritative book the leading experts on Dagestan provide a pathbreaking study of this volatile region far from the world's gaze