North Caucasus 5 - PONARS Eurasia

Instability in the North Caucasus and the Political Implications for the Russian-Chechen War

Over the past few years the various forms of warfare in Chechnya, including guerrilla operations against Russian federal forces, suicide bombings and assassinations directed against the pro-Russian Chechen government, and…

Russia’s Virtual War Against Georgia: Risks of a PR Offensive

Georgia is the only post-Soviet neighbor—and, in fact, the only country in the world—with which Russia has a protracted and carefully cultivated political conflict that periodically escalates and generates serious…

Putin: A New de Gaulle?

In the weeks leading up to his election as president of Russia in March 2000, journalists asked Vladimir Putin which political leaders he found “most interesting.” They took his first answer, Napoleon…

Russians Support NGOs But Not Parties: Implications for Donors

In previous PONARS memos (see especially no. 221, also nos. 243 and 244), we presented October 2001 survey results showing weak support among Russians for human rights, particularly for civil liberties and…

The Structures of Chechnya’s Quagmire

The current situation in Iraq in the aftermath of the invasion by British and U.S. forces made many analysts pay closer attention to the problems facing the Russian forces in Chechnya. Rather…

Security Sell-Out in the North Caucasus, 2004: How Government Centralization Backfires

With the horrors of the September 2004 school hostage massacre in Beslan (North Ossetia) very much in the Russians’ hearts and minds, the Kremlin announced sweeping reforms to strengthen central…

Putin’s War in Chechnya: Who steers the course?

Each time a proposition is raised to resolve the Chechen conflict through negotiation, the Russian authorities respond with a double-riposte: We do not negotiate with terrorists, and there is nobody…

Ingushetia as a Microcosm of Putin’s Reforms

In the wake of the massacre at the Beslan schoolhouse in North Ossetia in early September 2004, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a major reform intended to fight terrorism. “What…

Assuaging Ethnic Factionalism Dagestan’s Lessons for Post-Taliban Settlement in Afghanistan

Studies of post-conflict settlement have shown that political decentralization rarely eliminates ethnopolitical violence. Yet, some form of decentralization often has to be used as a confidence building mechanism in the…

Opposition to the War in Chechnya: Antimilitarist Organizing in Russia

Patriotism, or the devoted love of one’s country, is a phenomenon that can be used in the service of the state. Often, during wartime, the militarized aspect of patriotism is…

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North Caucasus