Radical Islamism, Traditional Islam and Ethno-Nationalism in the Northern Caucasus

Abstract

This study examines the interplay between Islam and collective identity and their position in potential conflicts by exploring the dynamics of Islam, ethno-nationalism and civic society within different parts of the Northern Caucasus. Historical and anthropological approaches are used for a comparative analysis of Daghestan and Chechnya in the east and of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachai-Cherkesia in the west. The study demonstrates the importance of local context and historical background to the understanding of ethnicity, nationalism, civic identity and their interplay with Islam. The analysis highlights that the different history and socio-cultural characteristics of the different regions in question leads to different approaches to religion which contain a paradox. In Daghestan and Chechnya, Islam is well established and the authorities have to collaborate with different Islamic bodies in their struggle against ‘Wahhabism’. In Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachai-Cherkesia the ‘legitimate’ Islamic leaders – whether those representing the state or leaders of other Islamic movements – are powerless. While this represents the overall weak position of Islam in these areas, paradoxically it also opens options for radical Islamists to gain support, in the context of economic hardships, weakening of other sources of identification, and corruption. This process is generated and fostered by policies that limit ethno-nationalism and expand the struggle against radicalism to a struggle against religious activity in general. The Northern Caucasus has often been perceived as a major locus of radical Islam, and as a strategic rift in the ‘clash of civilizations’. This study claims that the significant rifts and conflicts are between different Islamic alternatives. Important variables crucial to this discussion highlighted by the case of the Northern Caucasus are ethnicity, nationalism, civic identity and their interplay with Islam. At the same time, this case also highlights that the potential of radicalism in Islamic societies is not the mere result of its own ‘characteristics’, but is also a product of policy towards Islamic societies by outside actors, in this case Russia.