Religion and Identity in Modern Russia: The Revival of Orthodoxy and Islam by Juliet s> Johnson Marietta Stepaniants , Benjamin Forest (review)

Abstract

I78 SEER, 85, I, 2007 crime (p. I40) explores the typology and principal criminal activities of criminal organizationsin Ukraine, taking into account regional variations in both structuralorganizationand operationalactivityin key geographicalareas of the country. The authors contend that despite a significantrise in arrests associated with organized crime, the 'dynamic quality' of organized crime in Ukraine means that many organizations remain active and problems in tackling them remain. Thus, Williams and Picarelli conclude by outlining a number of recommendationsto form the basis of a comprehensive agenda for fighting organized crime in Ukraine. In the final articlein this collection, AlexanderYarmyshattemptsto establish a behavioural model for Ukrainian criminal organizations, finally concluding that organized crime today has evolved to become 'a blend of the old thieves world of nineteenth-century Russia and the new entrepreneursof a twenty-first century global economy' in independent Ukraine (p. I90). This book providesan interestingintroductioninto both the historicalroots and more recent development of organized crime in Ukraine. Due to the variety of contributors, chapters vary considerably in terms of length, style and level of detail, but generally this is an informative study of organized crime, not only in Ukraine itself, but in relation to the broader themes and common conditions relatingto increasedlevels of organized crime in the post-Soviet states since I991. School ofPolitics,International Relations andPhilosophy K. L. HIGNETT KeeleUniversity Johnson, Juliet; Stepaniants, Marietta, and Forest, Benjamin (eds). Religion andIdentity inModern Russia:7he Revival of Orthodoxy andIslam.Post-Soviet Politics. Ashgate, Aldershot and Burlington, VT, 2005. xiv + I49 PP. Tables. Notes. References. Index. ?49.95. THISuseful volume is the product of an ambitious project carried out under the auspices of the Collaborate Research Network and sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies. The project brought together Russian and North American scholars interested in questions of national, religious and ethnic identifications. The book explores the commonalities and the tensions existing within and between the Orthodox and Muslim communities in the Russian Federation. While all of the contributions to the volume are of interest, I will focus on those I consider to be the most suggestive. The perceptive and balanced introductory and concluding essays to the volume are written by political scientistJulietJohnson. With the collapse of Communism, the religious self-identificationof Russian Muslims, especially those dwelling in the North Caucasus and, to a lesser extent, of ethnic Russianshave graduallymoved to the fore. While the politicalinfluenceof the official Russian Orthodox Church has grown exponentially, and while large numbers of ethnic Russiansnow identifythemselvesin polls as being in some sense Orthodox Christians, the situation with regard to the depth of their REVIEWS I79 religiosity continues to be problematic. Most self-identified Orthodox Christiansin Russia remain 'un-churched'and have little or no knowledgeor understanding of their country's historic religion and its doctrines. Russian Muslims, particularly those in the North Caucasus, have traditionally identified with Sufi Islam but, in the post-Communist period, so-called Wahhabism or Salafismhas made inroads into their belief systems.The issue of the mutual tolerance of Orthodox Christiansand Muslims is self-evidently a key one for a successfulfuture of Russia. While there are large numbers of moderatesin both religiouscampswho favourreligioustolerance,the growing salience of religiousextremistsamong both Orthodox Christiansand Muslims is a development to be watched closely. As one who has studied these tendencieswithin the Orthodox and Muslim communities,I endorseProfessor Johnson's judicious approach to the subject. Among the various essays contained in the volume, I would single out two detailed and nuanced pieces devoted to present-day Russian Orthodox Christians:an articleon the quest for a 'Russianidea' by a well-knownliberal Orthodox priest and intellectual, Fr. Georgii Chistiakov, and an essay by Svetlana Ryzhova, a researchfellow at the Instituteof Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, on 'tolerance and extremism in the Orthodox Discourse of the I99os'. While both authors emphasize, correctly,that a majorityof self-identifiedOrthodox Christiansin Russia representpolitical moderates, both devote a great deal of their essays perhaps too much -to the chilling and at times berserk views of the extremists. The fulminations of the late Metropolitan Ioann of Petersburg and Ladoga, a high-rankingbishop of the official church, are cited, aptly, as exemplifying this worrisome tendency. It strikesme that both...