Continuing Struggle for Chechnya

Ali Askerov is Associate Professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

This interesting work examines the ongoing impact of the two phases of the Russo-Chechen wars from 1994 to 1996 and again from 1999 to 2008. The wars were extremely violent, and their aftermath in the 2010s has consisted of lingering tensions and many other territorial issues. The legacy of these territorial and ethnic conflicts has continued as Russia has become further involved in exterior conflicts in Georgia (2008) and Ukraine (2014 and 2022). Yet, the continued suppression of identity-based conflicts, like those in Chechnya, further haunts the Russian government and the overall region. The external endeavors and internal conflicts that have reignited the significance of the Chechen conflict since the wars ended more than 15 years ago have not had any real closure. Askerov’s study takes a complex approach to the Chechen situation and how it figures in the Russian problem. By addressing historical, ethno-political, ethno-territorial, and psychocultural themes, Askerov does a fine job of analyzing the multifaceted world of Russian internal and external politics and the opaque world of Chechen culture and politics. Recommended. Undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

• Chapter 1: Project NarrativeChapter 2: Historical ContextChapter 3: Ethnopolitical and Ethnoterritorial Conflicts in Russia: Assessing the Risk of Renewal through the Lens of the1990s and the Ukraine WarChapter 4: From Multidimensional Analysis to Multidimensional InterventionChapter 5: The Nexus of Human Needs, Socioeconomic Forces, and Administrative Realities Amidst Moscow’s GripsChapter 6: The Role of Psychocultural FactorsChapter 7: Violence: Story, Memory, Metaphors, Emotions, and the Notion of FreedomChapter 8: The Practice of Conflict Management in Chechnya