Seeking a Place for Islam in Post-Soviet Russia

Zuzana Rozkošová,Ľubomír Čech

doi:10.14746/ps.2021.1.11

Abstract

One of the main characteristics of the post-Soviet transformation was the religious resurgence. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the post-Soviet Islamic revival in the 1990s. The awakening of Islam and seeking the place for Muslims in the society significantly influenced the formation of today’s Russian Federation. The authors examine the factors that influenced the role of Islam in newly created post-Soviet Russia and the federal government’s response to its dynamics. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the Islamic revival after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The second chapter is focused on the Kremlin’s reaction to new radical movements that emerged during the Islamic awakening and the separatist sentiments in Russia’s Muslim regions. Using the qualitative research method, the authors drew a conclusion that Islamic radicalisation in post-Soviet Russia was caused by several external and internal factors. The political developments in the Russian Federation between the second half of the 1990s and the early 21st century were characterised by restrictions on religious freedom and consolidation of federalism.

Highlights

The past twenty years have seen the growing influence of Islam in the Russian Federation and other post-Soviet countries characterised by thriving Islamic trade and education, the construction of mosques and Islam awareness campaigns
Having studied and examined the issues presented in this paper, we drew the following conclusions: 1. The weakening of the state’s traditional central control over the republics and religious oppression led to the resurgence of Islam, which became legitimate thanks to the favourable domestic political environment in the newly formed Russian Federation
The post-Soviet era that we examined in our paper was characterised by increased nationalism in Russia’s Muslim republics

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The past twenty years have seen the growing influence of Islam in the Russian Federation and other post-Soviet countries characterised by thriving Islamic trade and education, the construction of mosques and Islam awareness campaigns. Islam in post-Soviet Russia is a complex issue, which can be explored from religious, political, cultural, ethnic, social and security perspectives, at different levels local, regional, national and international) and in terms of different historical periods. It has been studied, for example, by A. Political connotations of the religious factor in the Russian Federation imply identification of new meanings and phenomena that intersect with religion, politics and the society (Mchedlova, Kofanova, 2020: 8–9) This will require a cause-and-effect analysis of Islamic awakening. Religion was used as a key instrument for self-determination of post-Soviet nations in the turbulent political environment of the 1990s

FROM THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION TO THE ISLAMIC REVIVAL

CONCLUSION

POSZUKIWANIE MIEJSCA DLA ISLAMU W PORADZIECKIEJ ROSJI