Chechnya: History, Society, Conflict (Islamic Studies)

Introduction

In the North Caucasus, located on Europe’s easternmost edge and stretching from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, lies the tiny country of Chechnya, which has become infamous for the armed conflict that first erupted in 1994. Back then, following a three-year period of de facto independence, this country of slightly more than one million inhabitants faced an invasion by Russia, of which Chechnya has been a formal part since the first half of the 19th century. The Russian invasion in 1994 was interpreted as a failure by the Chechen separatist leadership and the federal authorities of Russia to strike a compromise deal on autonomy. What came to be known as the First Russian-Chechen War (1994–1996) took the lives of tens of thousands people, predominantly Chechen civilians, and turned a blooming mountainous country into ruins. In 1996 the Russian Army left Chechnya, a move that was widely considered Moscow’s failure to defeat a popular local resistance movement in a far smaller country of less than 17,000 square kilometers. In 1996–1999, Chechnya again experienced a tumultuous period of de facto independence. The country was torn apart by competing warlord groups and any central authority was nearly missing. Following these three years of independence, Chechnya faced another invasion from the north. In the autumn months of 1999, Moscow relaunched military operations in Chechnya following a joint Chechen-Dagestani, Salafi-jihadist incursion into neighboring Dagestan, a Russian-controlled autonomous republic. The Salafi-jihadists expected a popular anti-Russian uprising in that republic, which is the largest in the North Caucasus and lies to the east of Chechnya. Concerted efforts by the Dagestanis, aided by locally stationed Russian troops, expelled the invaders, whose ideology was found alien to most Dagestanis. As a result, the Russian Army, now much better prepared for war, swept over most of Chechnya by early 2000, driving the insurgents out of the capital city of Grozny in February-March of that year. A pro-Moscow government was installed by the federal authorities, and Akhmad Kadyrov, a former insurgent leader and a mufti of Chechnya, was named the head of a provisional pro-Moscow government. A paramilitary-like force named after their leader, the kadyrovtsy, was formed in the early 2000s, consisting primarily of former insurgents with intimate knowledge of their former comrades-in-arms, their mountain hideouts, and their support networks. By the mid-2000s, as part of Moscow’s policy of Chechenization of the conflict, the kadyrovtsy came to replace the Russian military as the main counterinsurgency force in the country. This gradually led to the weakening of the local insurgency, which had become increasingly Salafi-jihadist. The world, which had viewed Chechnya primarily as the scene of the most serious armed conflict in post–World War II Europe, was now witnessing a dramatic transformation of what had been mainly an ethno-separatist movement into a largely Salafi-jihadist insurgency. Accordingly, most literature on Chechnya has been devoted to the various aspects of political violence that have shaped this post-Soviet republic.

Chechen Language and Culture

Inspired by the armed conflict in Chechnya, several English-language books and articles appeared that sought to cast light on the unique language and culture of the Chechens. Among these works, Awde 1996, Jaimoukha 2005, and Layton 2014 stand out. Sokirianskaia 2005 explores the overemphasized yet, as the author shows, dramatically diminishing role of the teip, or tribe, in contemporary Chechen (and Ingush) society.

Awde, Nicholas. Chechen Dictionary and Phrasebook. New York: Hippocrene, 1996.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A basic dictionary of Chechen along with several hundred frequently used phrases.
Find this resource:
Jaimoukha, Amjad. The Chechens: A Handbook. New York: Routledge, 2005.
DOI: 10.4324/9780203356432Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The book looks into the history, organization, culture, and society of the Chechens.
Find this resource:
Layton, Katherine S. Chechens: Culture and Society. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
DOI: 10.1057/9781137483973Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book brings an unusual overview of the Chechens’ culture and society at the times of armed conflict.
Find this resource:
Sokirianskaia, Ekaterina. “Families and Clans in Ingushetia and Chechnya—A Fieldwork Report.” Central Asian Survey 24.4 (2005): 453–467.
DOI: 10.1080/02634930500453590Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This ethnographic account offers a rare insight into the changing role of families and teips in contemporary Chechnya and Ingushetia.
Find this resource:
Chechen History

Avtorkhanov and Broxup 1992, King 2008, Gammer 2003, and Blanch 2015 cast light on the history of Chechen resistance to Russian colonization in the 19th century—largely against the background of long-lasting guerilla wars waged by the North Caucasian highlanders against Imperial armies. Zelkina 2000 investigates the role of Sufi clergy in the resistance by the Sufi-dominated Northeast Caucasus to colonization by Russia in the 19th century. Surprisingly, though, there is no English-language monograph dealing specifically with the history of Chechnya as such. Chechen history remains a largely obscure subject, due to the scarcity of written sources to draw upon. To date, Pohl 1999 remains the most authoritative English-language resources on the ethnic cleansing and deportations in the Soviet period. There is no book devoted specifically to the 1944 deportation of the Chechens from their homeland to Central Asia. Marshall 2010, a book on the history of the Soviet Caucasus, serves as an excellent source of information on the political, social, and military history of the region, including an analysis of the North Caucasian and Chechen resistance to the Bolshevik armies during the interwar period. Gammer 2002 inquires into the ways nationalism permeates Chechen history. Campana 2009 casts light on how historical myths shaped the ideology of the Chechen Republic in the prewar period of 1991–1994.

Avtorkhanov, Abdurahman, and Marie B. Broxup. The North Caucasus Barrier: The Russian Advance towards the Muslim World. London: Hurst, 1992.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This is an authoritative account of the Russian Empire’s thrust into the North Caucasus and the resistance put by the mountain dwellers.
Find this resource:
Blanch, Lesley. The Sabres of Paradise: Conquest and Vengeance in the Caucasus. 5th ed. London: Bookblast ePublishing, 2015.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Despite being first published in 1960, this book remains one of the most authoritative historical accounts of Russia’s colonization of the North Caucasus and the local resistance movement.
Find this resource:
Campana, Aurélie. “Collective Memory and Violence: The Use of Myths in the Chechen Separatist Ideology, 1991–1994.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 29.1 (2009): 43–56.
DOI: 10.1080/13602000902726756Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article offers a rare insight into the use of myths by the elites of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria to legitimize their quest for independence.
Find this resource:
Gammer, Moshe. “Nationalism and History: Rewriting the Chechen National Past.” In Secession, History and the Social Sciences. Edited by Bruno Coppieters and Michel Huysseune, 117–140. Brussels: VUB Brussels University Press, 2002.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This text offers an interesting analysis of how the Chechen nationalist past was rewritten in the post-Soviet period by the local elites to make it fit their political needs.
Find this resource:
Gammer, Moshe. Muslim Resistance to the Tsar: Shamil and the Conquest of Chechnia and Daghestan. London: Frank Cass, 2003.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book provides an amazing account of the multiethnic resistance movement in the 19th-century Northeast Caucasus during the reign of legendary Imam Shamil.
Find this resource:
Kemper, Michael. “Chechnya.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam. 3d ed. Edited by K. Fleet, G. Kraemer, D. Matringe, J. Nawas, and E. Rowson, 73–84. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2012.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article provides excellent coverage of Chechnya’s earlier history. It also contains a well-rounded bibliography for that period. Available online.
Find this resource:
King, Charles. The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177756.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This is a fascinating excourse into the modern history of the North and South Caucasus, with emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries.
Find this resource:
Marshall, Alex. The Caucasus under Soviet Rule. London and New York: Routledge, 2010.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book is a well-researched and well-written analysis of the complex phenomenon of Moscow’s rule in and over the volatile region. With the extensive use of primary sources, it also investigates the developments within the Caucasus with regional import.
Find this resource:
Pohl, J. O. Ethnic Cleansing in the USSR, 1937–1949. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book is an important analysis of the ways Soviet elites’ carried out cleansing of ethnic groups since the peak of Stalin’s chistkas until the late 1940s. It includes analysis of the Chechen cases.
Find this resource:
Zelkina, Anna. In Quest for God and Freedom: Sufi Responses to the Russian Advance in the North Caucasus. New York: New York University Press, 2000.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A fascinating account of the Russian thrust into the North Caucasus and local resistance, analyzed using firsthand sources and with emphasis on the Sufi elites who led the resistance.
Find this resource:
Russian-Chechen Wars

Numerous monographs have been produced since the mid-1990s on various aspects of the First and Second Russian-Chechen Wars.

The First Russian-Chechen War and the Interwar Period

Gall and de Waal 1998 and Lieven 1998 are in-depth journalistic accounts. Dunlop 1998, Gammer 2005, and Souleimanov 2007 focus on the chronology of the escalation of the armed conflict and offer historical insights, serving as a good starting point for more nuanced research into the conflict. Covering some well-known ground, Williams 2015 provides a historical analysis of Russo-Chechen relations to explain the current crisis and its international ramifications. A work by two of the very first authors to write on the subject, Knezys and Sedlickas 1999 inquires into the military and social reasons for the Chechen victory over the Russians in the 1990s. Few studies focus explicitly on Chechnya’s interwar period (1996–1999). Most of them examine why a once unified society that had emerged victorious in its war with a superior force ended up in a civil war–like situation. They include analyses by Souleimanov 2005, Merlin 2012, and Sokirianskaya 2014, which basically agree on clan-based cleavages; political, personal, and ideological divisions; and the absence of a concept of a unified state as the main factors that led Chechnya into being a failed state.

Dunlop, John B. Russia Confronts Chechnya: Roots of a Separatist Conflict. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511612077Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book offers a valuable compilation of the variety of causes that led to the First Russo-Chechen War of 1994–1996.
Find this resource:
Gall, Carlotta, and Thomas de Waal. Chechnya: Calamity in the Caucasus. New York: New York University Press, 1998.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This is an iconic account written by two journalists with firsthand experience of the violence in the First Russian-Chechen War.
Find this resource:
Gammer, Moshe. “Between Mecca and Moscow: Islam, Politics and Political Islam in Chechnya and Daghestan.” Middle Eastern Studies 41.6 (2005): 833–848.
DOI: 10.1080/00263200500261829Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A valuable analysis of the uses of political Islam in post-Soviet Chechnya and Dagestan.
Find this resource:
Knezys, Stasys, and Roman Sedlickas. The War in Chechnya. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1999.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book provides an interesting analysis of the armed conflict in Chechnya in the 1990s.
Find this resource:
Lieven, Anatol. Chechnya: Tombstone of Russian Power. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A somewhat outdated, but still important analysis of the reasons leading to Russia’s failure to recapture Chechnya during the First Russo-Chechen War, and of the reasons why Moscow was likely to fail again should it seek to retake Chechnya in the future.
Find this resource:
Merlin, Aude. “The Postwar Period in Chechnya: When Spoilers Jeopardize the Emerging Chechen State (1996–1999).” In War Veterans in Postwar Situations: Chechnya, Serbia, Turkey, Peru, and Côte d’Ivoire. Edited by Nathalie Duclos, 219–240. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
DOI: 10.1057/9781137109743_11Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This text is an important analysis of the universe of factors leading to the failure of Grozny’s attempts to build a centralized and functioning state during the interwar period.
Find this resource:
Sokirianskaya, Ekaterina. “State and Violence in Chechnya (1997–1999).” In Chechnya at War and Beyond. Edited by Anne Le Huérou, Aude Merlin, Amandine Regamey, and Elisabeth Sieca-Kozlowski, 93–117. New York and London: Routledge, 2014.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This text looks into the interaction of the various power groups and Grozny in a fragmented society torn apart by internal feuds and violence.
Find this resource:
Souleimanov, Emil A. “Chechnya, Wahhabism and the Invasion of Dagestan.” Middle East Review of International Affairs 9.4 (2005): 48–71.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article explains the reasons behind the failure of Chechen secular elites to build a viable state due to the rise of Salafi-jihadist opposition in the interwar period.
Find this resource:
Souleimanov, Emil A. An Endless War: The Russian-Chechen Conflict in Perspective. Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang, 2007.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book traces the evolution of the armed conflict in Chechnya. Unlike other studies, it delves into the nuances of the social organization and persisting customs of the Chechen people to provide an explanation for the visceral causes and forms of the ongoing violence in Chechnya and the North Caucasus.
Find this resource:
Williams, Brian G. Inferno in Chechnya: The Russian-Chechen Wars, the Al Qaeda Myth, and the Boston Marathon Bombings. Lebanon, NH: ForeEdge, 2015.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
As its title suggests, this book provides a synthetic account of the Russian-Chechen Wars, debunks the myth of al-Qaeda being in charge of the Chechen insurgency movement, and explaining the possible motives of the Tsarnayev brothers.
Find this resource:
The Second Russian-Chechen War: Bibliographical and Journalistic Accounts

The literature on the Second Russian-Chechen War is much larger than that on the first war and is still growing. This overview gives only a glimpse into this immense body of knowledge. Like the literature on the First Russian-Chechen War, the literature on the second war includes in-depth journalistic accounts. Nivat 2001, Goltz 2003, Politkovskaya 2001, Politkovskaya 2007, and Babchenko 2007 are journalistic accounts that have become iconic. Smith 2006 and Meier 2005 represent decent pieces of war journalism. The latter was the first to investigate the roots of acts by female suicide bombers, known as “black widows”. In a mixed genre combining personal memories, professional dilemmas, and political appeals, a Chechen surgeon in the war-torn republic, Baiev 2005 provides a compelling narrative of wartime atrocities committed by the Russian military in the Second Chechen War. Akhmadov and Daniloff 2013 investigates President Aslan Maskhadov’s hectic efforts to achieve a peaceful solution to the war in the early 2000s (Akhmadov was the minister of foreign affairs in the government of independent Chechnya’s late president Aslan Maskhadov). Akhmadov and Lanskoy 2010 offers a sincere account by a top official of his separatist republic’s ups and downs on the thorny path of its struggle for independence.

Akhmadov, Ilyas, and Nicholas Daniloff. Chechnya’s Secret Wartime Diplomacy: Aslan Maskhadov and the Quest for a Peaceful Resolution. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
DOI: 10.1057/9781137338792Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book, written by the former minister of foreign affairs in Aslan Maskhadov’s government, provides an important insight into the frenetic attempts by President Maskhadov to forestall war in 1999 and the early 2000s.
Find this resource:
Akhmadov, Ilyas, and Miriam Lanskoy. The Chechen Struggle: Independence Won and Lost. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
DOI: 10.1057/9780230117518Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This is a self-critical account of the causes that led to Chechnya’s de facto victory in the First Russo-Chechen War and its loss of independence several years later.
Find this resource:
Babchenko, Arkady. One Soldier’s War. Londo: Portobello, 2007.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An autobiographic account of a Russian soldier in the First Russo-Chechen War offers a story of ordinary military men at war in a distant mountainous country and their interactions with the locals.
Find this resource:
Baiev, Khassan. Grief of My Heart: Memoirs of a Chechen Surgeon. London: Walker, 2005.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Another autobiographic account by a Chechen author that offers his thoughts on the everyday life of Chechen resistance.
Find this resource:
Goltz, Thomas. Chechnya Diary: A War Correspondent’s Story of Surviving the War in Chechnya. New York: Thomas Dunne, 2003.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This is an important firsthand account by an American journalist of the Russian-Chechen War.
Find this resource:
Meier, Andrew. Chechnya: To the Heart of a Conflict. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A modern history of a war-torn country in a nutshell, explained with precious insight by a British journalist who came to know many actors of the war personally.
Find this resource:
Nivat, Anne. Chienne de Guerre: A Woman Reporter behind the Lines of the War in Chechnya. New York: PublicAffairs, 2001.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book is an important autobiographic account by a French journalist who often went beyond the visible scenes of the war.
Find this resource:
Politkovskaya, Anna. A Dirty War: A Russian Reporter in Chechnya. London: Harvill, 2001.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An iconic account of the war by a courageous Russian journalist and human rights activist.
Find this resource:
Politkovskaya, Anna. A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A collection of articles and columns, this book by a leading Russian reporter, human rights activist, and expert on Chechnya was published postmortem. It offers an impressive account of everyday life and survival in a war-torn country.
Find this resource:
Smith, Sebastian. Allah’s Mountains: The Battle for Chechnya. London: Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2006.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A general and historicizing account of the armed conflict in Chechnya by an author who frequently traveled the war-torn country and met Chechen insurgents.
Find this resource:
Military Aspects

An important strand in the literature explains the military and security dimensions of the Russian-Chechen confrontation. Kramer 2006 examines the perils of Russia’s counterinsurgency in the early 2000s, before pro-Moscow Chechen paramilitary formations were deployed en masse. Oliker 2001 investigates the lessons learned from urban combat in the Russian-Chechen wars, as does Galeotti 2014, which also looks into the impact of the armed conflict on both Chechen and Russian societies. Schaefer 2011 examines Russia’s prolonged counterinsurgency campaigns in Chechnya. Drawing primarily on interviews with former Chechen insurgents, the similarly focused Billingsley 2013 provides a detailed examination of the largely effective guerilla tactics employed by the Chechens in their wars with Russia. Souleimanov 2015 and Souleimanov and Aliyev 2016 point to the policy of Chechenization employed by Moscow—using kadyrovtsy paramilitaries against the insurgents and their relatives—as the salient counterinsurgency strategy that helped stem the tide of local resistance. The phenomenon of “black widows”—a fearsome tool employed by Chechen (and North Caucasian) terrorist leaders—is examined by Nivat 2005, Kemoklidze 2009, and Moore 2012. Moore and Tumelty 2008, Moore 2015, and Rich and Conduit 2015 focus on the participation of foreign fighters in the Russian-Chechen wars and the implications thereof.

Billingsley, Dodge. Fangs of the Lone Wolf: Chechen Tactics in the Russian-Chechen War 1994–2009. Solihull, UK: Helion, 2013.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book offers a comprehensive analysis of Chechen guerilla tactics in both Russo-Chechen wars.
Find this resource:
Galeotti, Mark. Russia’s Wars in Chechnya 1994–2009. Oxford: Osprey, 2014.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book focuses on the military aspects of the armed conflicts in Chechnya, analyzing their evolution from urban fighting to mountainous guerilla.
Find this resource:
Kemoklidze, Nino. “Victimisation of Female Suicide Bombers: The Case of Chechnya.” Caucasian Review of International Affairs 3.2 (2009): 181–188.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article is an interesting analysis of the phenomenon of “black widows” in the 2000s.
Find this resource:
Kramer, Mark. “The Perils of Counterinsurgency: Russia’s War in Chechnya.” International Security 29.3 (2006): 5–63.
DOI: 10.1162/0162288043467450Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article offers a comprehensive explanation of the shortcomings of Russia’s counterinsurgency tactics in Chechnya in the early 2000s.
Find this resource:
Moore, Cerwyn. “Suicide Bombing: Chechnya, the North Caucasus and Martyrdom.” Europe-Asia Studies 64.9 (2012): 1780–1807.
DOI: 10.1080/09668136.2012.718421Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article is an important contribution to the literature on suicide bombing and martyrdom in the Chechen wars.
Find this resource:
Moore, Cerwyn. “Foreign Bodies: Transnational Activism, the Insurgency in the North Caucasus and ‘Beyond.’” Terrorism and Political Violence 27.3 (2015): 395–415.
DOI: 10.1080/09546553.2015.1032035Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article deals with the understudied phenomenon of foreign fighters in Chechnya from the interwar period until the 2000s, and their impact on Chechen insurgency.
Find this resource:
Moore, Cerwyn, and Paul Tumelty. “Foreign Fighters and the Case of Chechnya: A Critical Assessment.” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 31.5 (2008): 412–433.
DOI: 10.1080/10576100801993347Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This earlier article by the same Moore and an analyst specializing in Chechnya traces the origin and evolution of foreign fighters—specifically Arab Salafi-jihadists—in the North Caucasian country since the mid-1990s.
Find this resource:
Nivat, Anne. “The Black Widows: Chechen Women Join the Fight for Independence—and Allah.” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 28.5 (2005): 413–419.
DOI: 10.1080/10576100500180394Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An important article by a French reporter on the causes and context of the rising phenomenon of “black widows.”
Find this resource:
Oliker, Olga. Russia’s Chechen Wars 1994–2000: Lessons from Urban Combat. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2001.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An analysis of the urban warfare waged by Russian military in the Chechen wars.
Find this resource:
Rich, Ben, and Dara Conduit. “The Impact of Jihadist Foreign Fighters on Indigenous Secular-Nationalist Causes: Contrasting Chechnya and Syria.” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 38.2 (2015): 113–131.
DOI: 10.1080/1057610X.2014.979605Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A comparative study on the impact of the foreign fighters of Salafi-jihadist background on the insurgent cohesion and ideology, their perceptions on the international scene, and the governmental narratives of the armed conflict with international jihadists’ involvement.
Find this resource:
Schaefer, Robert. The Insurgency in Chechnya and the North Caucasus: From Gazavat to Jihad. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2011.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A comprehensive analysis of the Chechen wars with focus on the military, social, and political aspects that led to Chechen insurgency’s transformation from a largely ethno-separatism movement to Salafi-dominated resistance.
Find this resource:
Souleimanov, Emil A. “An Ethnography of Counterinsurgency: Kadyrovtsy and Russia’s Policy of Chechenization.” Post-Soviet Affairs 31.2 (2015): 91–114.
DOI: 10.1080/1060586X.2014.900976Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An explanation of the causes that led to Moscow’s deployment of pro-Russian paramilitary forces in the Second Russian-Chechen War. The author shows that it was the deployment of these indigenous Chechen forces that gradually turned the counterinsurgency into a success story.
Find this resource:
Souleimanov, Emil A., and Huseyn Aliyev. “Evaluating the Efficacy of Indigenous Forces in Counterinsurgency: Lessons from Chechnya and Dagestan.” Small Wars and Insurgencies 27.3 (2016): 392–416.
DOI: 10.1080/09592318.2016.1151658Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article compares counterinsurgency tactics and actors deployed by Moscow in Dagestan and Chechnya to fight an identical belligerent. The authors show that the deployment of indigenous forces in Chechnya has helped stem the tide of the armed conflict.
Find this resource:
Broader Implications of the Russian-Chechen Wars

A number of authors have assessed the broader implications of the Russian-Chechen wars for Chechnya and Russia, the role played by key Western nations, Chechen insurgents’ connections to the global jihadi movement, human rights violations, and so on. For instance, Evangelista 2002 challenges the established view in Russia, according to which the loss of Chechnya would lead to the disintegration of Russia itself. Evangelista also contends that acts of terrorism carried out by individual Chechen fighters should not be used by Russia as an excuse for massive human rights violations in Chechnya or against Chechens elsewhere. Taking an opposite perspective, German 2014 treats the prolonged Chechen crisis as an existential threat to Russian statehood. Sharply criticizing the role of the West in the Russian-Chechen wars and pointing to the immense suffering inflicted on the Chechen population by the war effort, Wood 2007 makes a strong case for Chechnya’s independence. Focusing on various perspectives, Souleimanov and Ditrych 2008, Williams 2015 (cited under the First Russian-Chechen War and the Interwar Period), Trenin and Malashenko 2004, and Ware 2013 provide a history of the tragic interactions between Russia and Chechnya. These were among the first works to examine the impact of the Chechen wars on Russian society, a phenomenon regarded by some as the “Chechenization” of Russia. Campana 2006 investigates how the two wars shaped Chechen national identity. Russell 2002 and Russell 2005 look into the ways perceptions of the Chechens changed in Russian popular consciousness during the two wars in the North Caucasus. Gilligan 2013 powerfully examines the logic behind the massive human rights violations in Chechnya. Seierstad 2008 offers a story of human suffering in a war-torn Chechen city.

Campana, Aurélie. “The Effects of War on the Chechen National Identity Construction.” National Identities 8.2 (2006): 129–148.
DOI: 10.1080/14608940600703759Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A valuable analysis of the ways in which the prolonged armed conflict in Chechnya has affected Chechen national identity.
Find this resource:
Evangelista, Matthew. The Chechen Wars: Will Russia Go the Way of the Soviet Union? Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2002.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A provocative discussion of the role of the Chechen wars in (not) undermining Moscow’s power. Unlike mainstream analyses, the author shows that a Chechen independence would not have led to the disintegration of Russia.
Find this resource:
German, Tracey C. Russia’s Chechen War. New York and London: Routledge, 2014.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book shows the place of the Chechen wars in Russia’s political landscape. Its emphasis is largely on the perceptions by Russia’s media and political elites of the possible implications of Russia’s inability to cope with Chechen separatism.
Find this resource:
Gilligan, Emma. Terror in Chechnya: Russia and the Tragedy of Civilians in War. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book is an impressive account of systematic human rights violations carried out by the Russian military and their Chechen proxies in the North Caucasian republic.
Find this resource:
Russell, John. “Mujahedeen, Mafia, Madmen: Russian Perceptions of Chechens during the Wars in Chechnya, 1994–96 and 1999–2001.” Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics 18.1 (2002): 73–96.
DOI: 10.1080/13523270209696369Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A valuable insight into the world of prevailing Russian perceptions of the Chechens.
Find this resource:
Russell, John. “Terrorists, Bandits, Spooks and Thieves: Russian Demonisation of the Chechens before and since 9/11.” Third World Quarterly 26.1 (2005): 101–116.
DOI: 10.1080/0143659042000322937Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An important analysis by Russell of the ways the Chechens were portrayed in Russian media beginning in the early 2000s, and the impact of these perceptions on Moscow’s ruthless policies in Chechnya.
Find this resource:
Seierstad, Asne. The Angel of Grozny: Life inside Chechnya. Translated by Nadia Christensen. London: Virago, 2008.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A moving account of daily life in a war-torn city.
Find this resource:
Souleimanov, Emil A., and Ondrej Ditrych. “The Internationalisation of the Russian-Chechen Conflict: Myths and Reality.” Europe-Asia Studies 60.7 (2008): 1199–1222.
DOI: 10.1080/09668130802230739Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article debunks the once-popular myth of Chechnya being an outpost of al-Qaeda in the post-Soviet area.
Find this resource:
Trenin, Dmitri V., and Alexey Malashenko. Russia’s Restless Frontier: The Chechnya Factor in Post-Soviet Russia. Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2004.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book explores the impact of the Second Russian-Chechen War on shaping Putin’s Russia.
Find this resource:
Ware, Robert B., ed. The Fire Below: How the Caucasus Shaped Russia. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book seeks to show how the Chechen wars affected Russian society and politics.
Find this resource:
Wood, Tony. Chechnya: The Case for Independence. London: Verso, 2007.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Exploring the painful history of conflict and dominance, this book makes a strong case for Chechen independence.
Find this resource:
Ideological Aspects of the Chechen Insurgency

In an anthropological study of Chechen ex-insurgents, Tishkov 2004 focuses on the central themes of violence and nationalism to explore the underpinnings of political mobilization in Chechnya. Wilhelmsen 2005 and Sagramoso 2012 explain the process of radicalization of the Chechen insurgency and the North Caucasian Salafi community, respectively. Hughes 2008 is the main study to date that looks into the complex causes of the transformation of the Chechen insurgency from a largely secular ethno-separatist insurgency into a Salafi-jihadist movement. Souleimanov 2014 explains the jihadization of the Chechen insurgency in the interwar period, focusing on the local youth’s willingness to join the tight-knit community of Salafi-jihadist fighters.

Hughes, James. Chechnya: From Nationalism to Jihad. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The most authoritative account to date dealing with the causes behind the ideological evolution of Chechen insurgency from ethno-separatist into Salafi-jihadist.
Find this resource:
Sagramoso, Domitilla. “The Radicalisation of Islamic Salafi Jamaats in the North Caucasus: Moving Closer to the Global Jihadist Movement?” Europe-Asia Studies 64.3 (2012): 561–595.
DOI: 10.1080/09668136.2012.661933Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A detailed analysis of the radicalization of Chechnya’s and North Caucasus’ Salafi groups and their relations with the global Jihadi movement.
Find this resource:
Souleimanov, Emil A. “Jihad or Security? Understanding the Jihadization of Chechen Insurgency through Recruitment into Jihadist Units.” Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies 17.1 (2014): 86–105.
DOI: 10.1080/19448953.2014.986375Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An alternative explanation of the causes behind Chechens’ willingness to join Salafi-jihadist groups in the interwar period.
Find this resource:
Tishkov, Valery. Chechnya, Life in a War-Torn Society. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.
DOI: 10.1525/california/9780520238879.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An ethnographic account of violence, resistance, and daily life in a war-torn society.
Find this resource:
Wilhelmsen, Julie. “Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Islamisation of the Chechen Separatist Movement.” Europe-Asia Studies 57.1 (2005): 35–59.
DOI: 10.1080/0966813052000314101Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An analysis of the reasons behind the Islamization of Chechnya’s once-secular insurgency movement.
Find this resource:
Theorizing Violence Based on Chechen Evidence

Using the data produced by the Chechen wars, some scholars have introduced theories regarding a range of issues related to the use of violence in irregular wars. For instance, Lyall 2010 illustrates that the deployment of fellow-ethnic counterinsurgents, the kadyrovtsy, is a more effective strategy compared to deployment of non-Chechen counterinsurgents—the Russian military. Lyall 2009 has shown that within a ninety-day window, indiscriminate violence is likely to decrease insurgent activity in targeted villages, which is problematized by Souleimanov and Siroky 2016, which looks into the micro-dynamics of violent mobilization of Chechen villagers. Toft and Zhukov 2012 finds that coercive counterinsurgency is the least effective strategy, in that it fails to prevent armed conflict from spreading. Zhukov 2012 points out the important role of logistics in shaping insurgent violence. In a study of how various types of insurgents disengage from conflict, Souleimanov and Aliyev 2014 show that “avengers” are the most likely group to succumb to external and internal incentives to abandon violence, followed by nationalists, and then jihadists. A later study, Toft and Zhukov 2015, found that government coercion is less effective when it is deployed against jihadists than against nationalists. Souleimanov and Aliyev 2015 and Souleimanov and Siroky 2016 show that the deployment of indigenous counterinsurgent forces, particularly former insurgents, provides the incumbent power with asymmetric advantages over insurgents. Souleimanov and Aliyev 2015 also points to blood revenge as an important trigger for violent mobilization in irregular wars.

Lyall, Jason. “Does Indiscriminate Violence Incite Insurgent Attacks? Evidence from Chechnya.” Journal of Conflict Resolution 53.3 (2009): 331–362.
DOI: 10.1177/0022002708330881Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article shows that indiscriminate violence is actually a fairly effective counterinsurgency practice.
Find this resource:
Lyall, Jason. “Are Coethnics More Effective Counterinsurgents? Evidence from the Second Chechen War.” American Political Science Review 104.1 (2010): 1–20.
DOI: 10.1017/S0003055409990323Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article points to coethnics as better counterinsurgents.
Find this resource:
Souleimanov, Emil A., and Huseyn Aliyev. The Individual Disengagement of Avengers, Nationalists, and Jihadists: Why Ex-Militants Choose to Abandon Violence in the North Caucasus. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
DOI: 10.1057/9781137498830Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This monographs shows that avengers, nationalists, and jihadists—three ideal types of insurgents—are dissimilar in terms of their resilience to factors pushing them to abandon violence.
Find this resource:
Souleimanov, Emil A., and Huseyn Aliyev. “Blood Revenge and Violent Mobilization: Evidence from the Chechen Wars.” International Security 40.2 (2015): 158–180.
DOI: 10.1162/ISEC_a_00219Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article investigates the important, yet heavily underresearched, role of blood revenge as a salient source of violent mobilization.
Find this resource:
Souleimanov, Emil A., and David Siroky. “Random or Retributive?: Indiscriminate Violence in the Chechen Wars.” World Politics 68.4 (2016): 677–712.
DOI: 10.1017/S0043887116000101Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article uses microlevel ethnographic evidence from Chechen villages to show that indiscriminate violence deployed retributively against village communities generated insurgent activity in other areas because local avengers and rebels from the targeted populations sought to avoid further retributive violence against their village communities.
Find this resource:
Toft, Monica D., and Yuri M. Zhukov. “Denial and Punishment in the North Caucasus: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Coercive Counter-Insurgency.” Journal of Peace Research 49.6 (2012): 785–800.
DOI: 10.1177/0022343312448389Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article shows the effects of four various counterinsurgent strategies on containing insurgent violence.
Find this resource:
Toft, Monica D., and Yuri M. Zhukov. “Islamists and Nationalists: Rebel Motivation and Counterinsurgency in Russia’s North Caucasus.” American Political Science Review 109.2 (2015): 222–238.
DOI: 10.1017/S000305541500012XSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article explores how religion shapes the nature of violence in insurgencies.
Find this resource:
Zhukov, Yuri M. “Roads and the Diffusion of Insurgent Violence: The Logistics of Conflict in Russia’s North Caucasus.” Political Geography 31.3 (2012): 144–156.
DOI: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2011.12.002Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article discusses the role of roads in spreading insurgent violence.
Find this resource:
Islam in Chechnya

To date, no book-length publication exists on Islam in Chechnya. Most monographs deal with the experience of Islam in Chechnya as part of the broader phenomenon of Islam in the pre-Soviet North Caucasus, the Soviet Union, or Russia. For instance, Yemelianova 2002 offers a journey into the history of Russia’s relationship with its Muslim communities, paying particular attention to the North Caucasus and Chechnya, and also covering contemporary issues such as growing Islamophobia, which is aimed particularly against the natives of the North Caucasus, including Chechens. In the edited volume Pilkington and Yemelianova 2002, Yemelianova explores the social functions of Islam in contemporary Russia, without explicitly focusing on Chechnya and the North Caucasus. Hunter 2004 provides an interesting insight into the forms of Islam extant in contemporary Russia, paying particular attention to religious institutions, political organizations, and ideological movements pertinent to the Muslim religion. Gammer 2005 (cited under the First Russian-Chechen War and the Interwar Period) investigates the politics of Islam in Chechnya (and Dagestan). Dannreuther and March 2011 delves into the complex relationship between the Russian Federation’s central authorities and Russia’s various Muslim-majority communities. The book provides a nuanced analysis of the challenges of political Islam in Russia, examining the potential for radicalization. From an opposite perspective, Hahn 2007 describes Islamic radicalization in Chechnya as an imported phenomenon that “lifts the veil on the Muslim challenge to Russia’s political stability, national security, and state integrity.” In the edited volume Yemelianova 2011, the hotly debated issue of Islamic radicalism—with particular emphasis on Chechnya and the North Caucasus—is expounded upon. In the absence of book-length monographs, several valuable articles exist that focus primarily on Islam in Chechnya. Radnitz 2006 explores the uses of Islam and Islamic rhetoric in the Chechen wars. Swirszcz 2009 investigates the role of Islam in Chechen national identity. An earlier article by Giuliano 2005 looks into the intersection of Islamic identity and political mobilization in Chechnya (and in neighboring Dagestan). Hertog 2005 and Souleimanov 2005 (cited under the First Russian-Chechen War and the Interwar Period) discuss the root causes of Islamic radicalization in Chechnya, focusing on the interwar period of 1996–1999. Bram and Gammer 2013 uses Chechnya, along with other North Caucasian republics, to look into the interplay of ethnic nationalism, radical Islamism, and traditional Islam. Vatchagaev 2014 explains the nuances in the politicization of Sufi brotherhoods in Chechnya during the second half of the 20th century.

Bram, Chen, and Moshe Gammer. “Radical Islamism, Traditional Islam and Ethno-Nationalism in the Northern Caucasus.” Middle Eastern Studies 49.2 (2013): 296–337.
DOI: 10.1080/00263206.2013.763797Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article analyzes the interplay of various forms of Islam and ethnic nationalism in the post-Soviet North Caucasus—including Chechnya.
Find this resource:
Dannreuther, Roland, and Luke March. Russia and Islam: State, Society and Radicalism. London: Routledge, 2011.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book offers an interesting analysis of Russia’s policies toward Islam and Islamic practices.
Find this resource:
Giuliano, Elise. “Islamic Identity and Political Mobilization in Russia: Chechnya and Dagestan Compared.” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 11.2 (2005): 195–220.
DOI: 10.1080/13537110591005711Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article investigates the role of Islamic identity in political mobilization in the Northeast Caucasus.
Find this resource:
Hahn, Gordon M. Russia’s Islamic Threat. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book explores the potential of Islamic threat to Russia’s security and territorial integrity.
Find this resource:
Hertog, Katrien. “A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Seeds of Islamic Radicalisation in Chechnya.” Religion, State and Society 33.3 (2005): 239–252.
DOI: 10.1080/09637490500225029Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An analysis of the rise of Salafism and Salafi-jihadism in Chechen society.
Find this resource:
Hunter, Shireen. Islam in Russia: The Politics of Identity and Security. New York: Routledge, 2004.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An interesting survey into the political of Islam, religious identity, and their security implications against the background of Russia of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Find this resource:
Pilkington, Hilary, and Galina Yemelianova, eds. Islam in Post-Soviet Russia: Public and Private Faces. New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An important volume about the role of Islam(s) in Russia of the 1990s and early 2000s.
Find this resource:
Radnitz, Scott. “Look Who’s Talking! Islamic Discourse in the Chechen Wars.” Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity 34.2 (2006): 237–256.
DOI: 10.1080/00905990600720328Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article casts light on the multiple uses of Islam in the Chechen wars.
Find this resource:
Swirszcz, Joanna. “The Role of Islam in Chechen National Identity.” Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity 37.1 (2009): 59–88.
DOI: 10.1080/00905990802373637Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article investigates the salient, yet often symbolic, role of the Muslim religion in Chechen national identity.
Find this resource:
Vatchagaev, Mairbek. “The Politicization of Sufism in Chechnya.” Caucasus Survey 1.2 (2014): 25–35.
DOI: 10.1080/23761199.2014.11417294Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article carefully explores the politicization of “traditional Islam” in Chechen society.
Find this resource:
Yemelianova, Galina. Russia and Islam: A Historical Survey. New York: Palgrave, 2002.
DOI: 10.1057/9780230288102Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book looks into the modern history of Islam and Russia—and Russian authorities’ attitudes toward Muslim religion.
Find this resource:
Yemelianova, Galina, ed. Radical Islam in the Former Soviet Union. New York: Routledge, 2011.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book investigates the forms of radical Islam in the post-Soviet area, with an emphasis on the North Caucasus and Chechnya.
Find this resource:
Contemporary Chechnya

The edited volume Le Huérou, et al. 2014 provides an up-to-date analysis of Chechnya’s economic, political, and social issues. Lokshina 2007, Lokshina 2014, Sokiryanskaya 2008, and Ratelle 2014 focus on the lives of ordinary Chechens in the Moscow-dominated republic and their complex attitudes toward Chechnya’s current “national leader,” Ramzan Kadyrov, son of the assassinated former Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov. Reflecting on the younger Kadyrov’s relationship with his late prominent critic, the liberal journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Pohl 2007 analyzes the “Kadyrov syndrome.” This “syndrome” is defined by the author as resulting from Kadyrov’s “inferiority complex,” evidenced by his efforts to mask his fear and cowardice by emphasizing his manliness—not least in his public treatment of women. Souleimanov and Jasutis 2016 and Ratelle and Souleimanov 2016 investigate the nature of Kadyrov’s pro-Moscow regime, focusing on the regime’s oscillation between autonomy and dependence.

Le Huérou, Anne, Aude Merlin, Amandine Regamey, and Elisabeth Sieca-Kozlowski, eds. Chechnya at War and Beyond. New York and London: Routledge, 2014.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This book is one of the most up-to-date works to concentrate on the politics, society, and economics of Chechnya under the rule of Ramzan Kadyrov.
Find this resource:
Lokshina, Tania. “‘Chechenisation’ of the Conflict, or the ‘Political Process’ in the Chechen Republic.” In Chechnya? zhizn’ na voine. Edited by Tanya Lokshina, Aleksandr Mnatsakanian, Varvara Pakhomenko, and Aleksandr Cherkasov, 82–97. Moscow: Demos, 2007.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This contribution to a Russian-language volume (Chechnya? Life in a war) is an account of the policy of Chechenization carried out by Moscow in the once-troublesome republic in the 2000s.
Find this resource:
Lokshina, Tania. “Virtue Campaign for Women in Chechnya Under Ramzan Kadyrov: Between War Backlash Effect and Desire for Total Control.” In Chechnya at War and Beyond. Edited by Anne Le Huérou, Aude Merlin, Amandine Regamey, and Elisabeth Sieca-Kozlowski, 236–255. New York: Routledge, 2014.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article by the same author focuses on the pro-Moscow Chechen elites’ attitudes toward Chechen women.
Find this resource:
Pohl, Michaela. “Anna Politkovskaya and Ramzan Kadyrov: Exposing the Kadyrov Syndrome.” Problems of Post-Communism 54.5 (2007): 30–39.
DOI: 10.2753/PPC1075-8216540503Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article investigates the relationship between liberal reporter Anna Politkovskaya and Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov.
Find this resource:
Ratelle, Jean-François. “The North Caucasus Insurgency: Understanding the Chechen Rebels in the Context of the Caucasus Emirate.” In Chechnya at War and Beyond. Edited by Anne Le Huérou, Aude Merlin, Amandine Regamey, and Elisabeth Sieca-Kozlowski, 177–198. London and New York: Routledge, 2014.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This text places Chechen insurgency in the context of the North Caucasian jihadi movement.
Find this resource:
Ratelle, Jean-François, and Emil A. Souleimanov. “A Perfect Counterinsurgency? Making Sense of Moscow’s Policy of Chechenisation.” Europe-Asia Studies 68.8 (2016): 1287–1314.
DOI: 10.1080/09668136.2016.1230842Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article explores the successes and setbacks of Moscow’s policy of counterinsurgency in Chechnya, focusing on its socio-military, cultural, and political aspects.
Find this resource:
Sokiryanskaya, Ekaterina. “Ideology and Conflict: Chechen Political Nationalism Prior to, and During, Ten Years of War.” In Ethno-Nationalism, Islam and the State in the Caucasus: Post-Soviet Disorder. Edited by Moshe Gammer, 102–138. London and New York: Routledge, 2008.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This text casts light on the evolution of Chechen nationalism in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Find this resource:
Souleimanov, Emil A., and Grazvydas Jasutis. “The Dynamics of Kadyrov’s Regime: Between Autonomy and Dependence.” Caucasus Survey 2.4 (2016): 115–128.
DOI: 10.1080/23761199.2016.1183396Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This article explores the complex relationship between Ramzan Kadyrov and Russia’s president Vladimir Putin as a phenomenon that has come to shape the nature of contemporary Chechnya.