REVIEWS 58I a welcome window onto the complex dynamicsof electoralpoliticsin Albania and Macedonia. Department of Government SARAH BIRCH University ofEssex Sakwa, Richard (ed.). Chechnya: FromPast to Future.Anthem Russian and Slavonic Studies. Anthem Press, London, 2005. XViii + 300 PP. Maps. Notes. Appendices. Furtherreading. ?I2.99: $25.00 (paperback). RIcHARDSAKwA's edited collection is the first to contain Chechen, Russian and Western-based scholars', diplomats' and journalists'perspectives on the origins, conduct and significanceof the wars in Chechnya, and their impact on contemporaryRussianand Chechen politicsand society. It includescontributions from individualswho actively conduct fieldworkin the area (Robert Bruce Ware, Thomas de Waal), have participated in government decisionmaking and the peace-making processes (Valery Tishkov, Emil Pain, Lord Frank Judd), human-rights activism (Alexander Cherkasov and Dmitry Grushkin of Memorial), and are members of the Chechen intelligentsia (Dzhabrail Gakaev), as well as outstanding scholars from their disciplines. From Sakwa'smasterful'Introduction'fusing internationalrelations,international law, history and politics to LordJudd's rather pessimistic 'Afterword', this is an outstanding, engaging contributionto our knowledge of Chechnya and the Chechen conflict. This multi-faced study of the Chechen conflict deservesto be readwidely. Chechnya: From PasttoFuture complementsTishkov's Chechnya: Lifeina War-Torn Societ,(reviewedin SEER,83, 2005, 3, pp. 54647). Some of the book's key themes are worth highlighting.Severalcontributors view the conflict as an exercise in political opportunism,on both the Russian and Chechen sides. This stems from attempts to usurp the post-August I99I coup power vacuum in Chechnya and intra-elitepower strugglesin the first war (Gakaev),a 'failureof the proxy insurgency'that the El'tsinadministration experienced in late 1994 (de Waal, p. i68), a means 'to enhance the political standingof the federalexecutiveauthorities'(Cherkasovand Grushkin,p. I32), and Islamists and criminals taking advantage of the Maskhadov regime's inabilities and reluctance to establishorder during I997-99 (Ware).The authorsalso addressthe thornyissueof how to classifythe conflict.Gakaevviews it as 'a strugglebetween mafia-politicalclans' (p. 26). Mike Bowkerexamines how Western governments have insisted that Russia has acted to defend its territorialintegrity,while the media posit that the Chechens were exercising their rights for national sovereignty.Ware's contributionradicallychallenges the Western media's interpretation, by pointing out that in both wars Chechnya was at least a de facto independent state. Chechens, therefore,did not need to fight for independence. Shearman and Sussex discussthe conflict within the context of the 'new wars' paradigm. Their conclusion is that this approach is not applicablein the Chechen circumstances.The war, its actors and potential solutionsare concerned with issuesof power and purpose, all of which represent 'the modern', not the 'post-modern'. 582 SEER, 84, 3, JULY 2006 Issues of modernization are also significant in the authors' attempts to understand the situation in Chechnya. Tishkov posits that Chechnya is in a processof de-modernizationwhich has resultedin 'chaoticchanges in which the very concept of societyis sweptaway' (p. I70). Sakwa(pp.6-7) and Gakaev (p. 23) acknowledge that Chechnya has been and continues to be impeded by the lack of a native Chechen intelligentsiaand technocracy.These factors, plus economic and social destruction, may greatly hamper post-conflict reconstruction. In addition to examining the sources of conflict, the book also addresses aspects of political communication, the peace process and negotiations. For Mikhailov,the abilityto negotiate properlywith the centre enabled Tatarstan to extract greater political concessions in the post-Soviet political order than their fellow Muslims in Chechnya. This has benefited the former. Both Pain and Baev note thatvariousdisconnectionsexist between the politicaland militaryestablishment.Russell, Hughes andJudd are all highly criticalof the Putinadministration'slackof willingnessto negotiate, and suggestthat thishas sustainedviolence in the region. Although the volume is enriched by its authors' diversity, it lacks one importantset of perspectives- women's. This is indeed significantas one of Russia's leading agents of civil society, the Soldiers' Mothers Committee emerged in response to the Chechen war. Additionally, both Russian and Chechen women have made considerable sacrifices during the war. They have been the victims of war crimes as well as the perpetratorsof terrorism. The inclusion of the Khasavyurt Agreement and the Russian-Chechen Peace Treaty is indeed valuable for studentsand researchersalike. However, given the diverseviewpoints and subjectmatter the volume would have been much more user-friendlywith an index...