Interwar Chechnya (1996-1999), Wahhabism and the Roots of the Dagestani Invasion
Abstract
This study analyses the causes of the fall of the Chechen state after its de facto independence (1996-1999) following the so-called First Russian-Chechen War (1994-1996). The failed incursion of the (predominantly Wahhabi) Chechen-Dagestani guerrillas in Dagestan (August 1999), designed to inflame a regional rebellion against Russia, resulted in the current Second Russian-Chechen War. The Chechen state's failure was mainly caused by internal factors, primarily the 'clanish' division of Chechen society and customary legal norms (e.g. blood feuds), but also the spread of political Islam and the expansion of North Caucasian Wahhabism. Considering recent attempts to extend the conflict over Chechnya's borders, this field continues to be of immense import. In Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and elsewhere, processes similar to those being studied may be better understood following this study.
Keywords
Chechnya, the Caucasus, Islam, war, conflict, Wahhabism, Sufism, terrorism, insurgency, customary law
Author Biography
Emil Souleimanov
Born in 1978 in Yerevan, Armenia. He studied German studies, English studies, and Russian studies at universities in Moscow and Prague. He is a graduate of International Relations at the Institute of Political Science Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in Prague (earning his Master’s and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in 2001; PhD in 2005) and Law at St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University (Master’s degree in 2004). He lectures at the Institute of Political Science Studies at FSV UK and at the College of Public Administration and International Relations. His research focuses on security studies, nation- and state-building, with a regional focus on Russia, the Caucasus, and Turkey. He is the author of around a hundred academic and journalistic articles, published in various Czech and international collections, monographs, and periodicals, including the OSCE Yearbook 2004, Jahrbuch für internationale Sicherheitspolitik 2004, and The Middle East Review of International Affairs. He has prepared around twenty expert analyses for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic, and NATO.