Chechnya: From Nationalism to Jihad

by James Hughes

The sheer scale and brutality of the hostilities between Russia and Chechnya stand out as an exception in the mostly peaceful breakup of the Soviet Union. From Nationalism to Jihad provides a fascinating analysis of the transformation of secular nationalist resistance in a nominally Islamic society into a struggle that is its antithesis, jihad. Hughes locates Chechen nationalism within the wider movement for national self-determination that followed the collapse of the Soviet empire. When negotiations failed in the early 1990s, political violence was instrumentalized to consolidate opposing nationalist visions of state-building in Russia and Chechnya. The resistance in Chechnya also occurred in a regional context where Russian hegemony over the Caucasus, especially the resources of the Caspian basin, was in retreat, and in an international context of rising Islamic radicalism. Alongside Bosnia, Kashmir, and other conflicts, Chechnya became embedded in Osama Bin Laden's repertoire of jihadist rhetoric against the "West." It was not simply Russia's destruction of a nationalist option for Chechnya, or "Wahabbist" infiltration from without, that created the political space for Islamism. Rather, we must look also at how the conflict was fought. The lack of proportionality and discrimination in the use of violence, particularly by Russia, accelerated and intensified the Islamic radicalization and thereby transformed the nature of the conflict.

This nuanced and balanced study provides a much-needed antidote to the mythologizing of Chechen resistance before, and its demonization after, 9/11. The conflict in Chechnya involves one of the most contentious issues in contemporary international politics—how do we differentiate between the legitimate use of violence to resist imperialism, occupation, and misgovernment, and the use of terrorism against legitimate rule? This book sets out indispensable lessons for understanding conflicts involving the volatile combination of nationalist insurgency, jihad, and terrorism, most notably for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Genres: Russia, Islam

296 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Praj · Rating 4 out of 5]

**This review is particularly for Randy for he sweetly anticipates my perspective.**

I will not evaluate this book per se. When politically acute manuscripts are grasped I refrain from viewing through its technicalities and focus on its erudite impetus. I do not give a rat’s ass to the author’s literary style or synchronization. All that matters is the articulacy of problematic inceptions that materialize from the printed prose.

Chechnya, ‘Kurdistan’(varies with regional ethnicity),East Timor, Myanmar, Palestine terrains, Congo, Sudan and Kashmir; these are just few of the numerous explosive landscapes where life is celebrated every night as it may not be able to see the subsequent sunrise. As a woman who has matured among the recurrent news of the bestowed atrocities on Kashmiri residents and rebellious bloodshed propelled with a religious garb, I desire to yelp each disturbing question that churns in my agitated mind.

1):- Is human life only valued on the basis of their birthplace, caste or religion?
2):- What makes an individual resort to the utmost inhumane tactics engulfing every guiltless soul that come in the way of their "existential sovereignty"?
3):- Why is 'free will' the merely valued gem of human existence abused with a deathly gusto?
4):-Why is hatred spewed beneath the roofs of sycophancy and falsified harmonious assertions?
5):- What is the root cause of the leeching terror that never seems to stop sucking blood from cores of unscathed living?
6):-Why do we restore fear in the fearless (children), flinging them in an abyss of boundless nightmares?

Chechnya found a prominent listing in my politically contested world through the dishonorable Beslan School Massacre(September 1,2004),when a group of Ingush and Chechen militants took more than 1000 people(including 777 children) hostage in a three-day fatal anguish ensuing 300 horrific deaths. While scrutinizing the repercussions of terror hostilities, the mass devastation blurs our senses to an abnormality of muddled judgments. I am not and never will defend any terror mechanisms; however through the pandemonium we tend to overlook the obvious-"thinking outside the box". Through all the denied allegations the truth of the flourishing power-mongers and tainted governmental operations cannot be washed away as it subconsciously sows the seeds of uncouth rebellion with a thirst for self-identity.
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In the late1980s during Gorbachev’s regime, Chechnya was one of the most politically stable secular parts of the Soviet Union.After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991; numerous regions sought independence establishing separate political systems. The Chechen-Ingush ASSR was split into two: the Republic of Ingushetia and Republic of Chechnya. The latter proclaimed the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, which sought independence. However, and then President Boris Yeltsin snubbed Chechen’s declaration of independence declining to accept Chechnya as separate republic. Speculatively it was inferred as ‘oil’ being the main element for Yeltsin’s denial; since a major pipe line carried the oil from Baku onto the Caspian Sea and from Chechnya through Ukraine. Frail egos, misgovernmental policies and refusal of peaceful agreements resulted in two brutal wars in the 1990s terminating into tormenting genocide. Since then there has been a systematic restoration and upgrading process, though sporadic fighting continues in the mountains and southern regions of the republic. Steady rise in religious radicalism, political violence and conflicting nationalist hegemony, led to terror insurgence embedded in the antithesis, jihad. Furthermore, Chechen resistance has been linked to Bin Laden’s demonizing repertoire of vengeance against the "West" making it one of the most litigious issues in international political inconsistency.

Terror is an influential weapon used to attain egotistical motives in the cloak of religion; a devious cloak indoctrinating radical extremities in the feeble. When faith submerges in the unfathomable squalid of raging supremacy and audacious fervor, humanity dissolves in the reins of brutality. Consequently, how must a demarcation be set between legitimize use of violence confronting unethical governmental systems, imperialism and the exploit of terrorism against a justifiable decree? Or are they no resolutions to indispensable lessons learned from horrific conflicts hindering every nonviolent prospect.

I vividly recount the BBC documentary on the Beslan outcome. From the profusely aired interviews of victims (dominantly children) and the Beslan populace, rancorous tones erupted from every uttered expression of revenge and atheist connotations seeking answers from deafened authorities for the bequeathed mayhem.

It irks me immensely to be a voiceless spectator to the continuing Hammurabi-‘eye for an eye’ coded sadistic global cycle termed "justice".

[Austin Barselau · Rating 3 out of 5]

In “Chechnya: From Nationalism to Jihad,” James Hughes explores the theoretical underpinnings and ethnogeographical motivations for how conflict such as the Chechen wars can arise. Hughes, a longtime professor of comparative politics at the LSE, shows how Chechen self-determination and secessionist ambitions mutated from a form of secular nationalism to a transnational theocratic struggle radicalized by religious and racial exclusivism, which ultimately challenged notions of a cohesive post-Soviet Russian state. Hughes delves into how Chechen secessionism became a casus belli, frustrating Yeltin’s appeasement policies and eventually provoking Putin’s violent crackdown, which he justified by the need to “impose order” on a rapidly deteriorating regional terrorism threat.

While “Chechnya” is somewhat dated, it excels in its own lane; it is not a blow-by-blow military chronicle, but rather a philosophical examination of how conflict emerges at the crucible of competing national/sub-national interests.

[Fatima!]

such a greatly explained view of caucasian history.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jmh/summ...

From a JHU review:

"A typical sentence from page 118 reads: "Proxy rule by a reliance on a collaborationist indigenous stratum to manage rebellious territories is an essential instrument in the imperialist's toolkit." This is not a book for the beach."