Abstract
Even though the ethnic factor played a significant role in Soviet and post-Soviet politics in the Caucasus and contributed to the rapid transformation of the ethnic organizations into political movements and parties, one ethnic group, the Mountain Jews, stands out as an exception. Unlike other ethnic groups, no community of Mountain Jews in the Caucasus has ever mobilized politically to get official acknowledgment on the basis of its ethic and religious identity. Why? The answer to this question lies in explanation of certain aspects of ethnic identification and political orientation of the Mountain Jews discussed in this paper. The paper concludes that the political culture and historical experience of Mountain Jews delegitimizes the very idea of ethnic mobilization in regional politics regardless of their official status within political regime. The Mountain Jews have never relinquished their national identity and ethno-cultural affiliation with their brethren beyond the Caucasian mountains. Nor have they ever abandoned the Jewish faith.
Highlights
Multi-ethnic regions offer social scientists unique opportunities to investigate the interplay of global and local processes and, in particular, to follow the evolution of complicated collective identities
The almost unanimous support Jewish religious and political leaders offered for main reform and democratization measures since the Gorbachev era, their strong support for Boris Yeltsin during his stand-off with the Russian Parliament in 1993, means that right-wing, nationalist, and fascist groups might impute to all Jews a strong pro-democracy political opinion
Igor Semenov suggests that the Mountain Jews can be treated as a homogeneous sub-ethnic group the identification of which is based on the following elements: a common ethnic name—juhur; a common language—Juhuri; a common religion Judaism, as well as many common features in religious rites and religious ideas [14]
Summary
Multi-ethnic regions offer social scientists unique opportunities to investigate the interplay of global and local processes and, in particular, to follow the evolution of complicated collective identities. The long-term practice of subsidization has bred a welfare mentality among the regional elites but, at the same time, federal subsidies have provided them a powerful instrument for strengthening their personal power through the reallocation of the funds from Moscow, aggravating further the problem of corruption and inter-clan competition This process has been accompanied by the resurrection of clan and other primordial social networks, which under Soviet regime had been held at bay. The almost unanimous support Jewish religious and political leaders offered for main reform and democratization measures since the Gorbachev era, their strong support for Boris Yeltsin during his stand-off with the Russian Parliament in 1993, means that right-wing, nationalist, and fascist groups might impute to all Jews a strong pro-democracy political opinion.
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