North Caucasus 3 - PONARS Eurasia

Direct Impact: The Influence of the Arab Spring on the Circassian World

The Arab Spring is an interregional and multinational event, with many ethnic minorities participating from afar and in situ—the Jewish community in Tunisia, Copts in Egypt, Berbers in Libya, Darfuris…

Sochi Surprise: Imagining Change in Moscow’s Caucasus Policy

Let us imagine… at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the United Nations Secretary General announces a new peace deal for the Caucasus, surprising everyone. The…

Russia, Chechnya, and the Sovereign Kadyrov

Moscow has effectively granted sovereignty over the Republic of Chechnya to its appointed leader, Ramzan Kadyrov. Despite frequent claims in some media sources that Kadyrov’s days are numbered, and despite…

The Circassian Question in Russian-Georgian Relations

Russian-Georgian relations have gone through many changes, but before August 2008 one constant in this relationship was the attitude toward Georgia’s territorial integrity. In 1990-91, when Georgia made its first…

New Actors, Old Obstacles: Security Cooperation in Eurasia

The main obstacle to developing an appropriate security architecture for post-Soviet Eurasia are the number of perceptual and conceptual gaps that exist among the actors involved. Major states and regional…

Georgian Perceptions of the North Caucasus and of U.S.-Russian Relations

Georgian-Russian relations have been frozen since the August 2008 war. This “freeze” resembles the situation of other “frozen” conflicts that have existed in the Caucasus since the 1990s. Indeed, the…

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The Kabardino-Balkaria Insurgency: A Comparative Analysis of Ideological Trends in the North Caucasus

In recent years, the North Caucasus has experienced an upsurge of violence and terrorist acts. After the Beslan hostage crisis and its backlash on the Chechen movement’s international legitimacy, there…

Rubles Against the Insurgency: Paradoxes from the North Caucasus Counties

As part of its counter-insurgency strategy in the volatile North Caucasus region, the Russian government has stressed economic development and invested considerable resources into the region. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin…

Russia’s Gordian Knot: Radical Nationalism, the North Caucasus, and Migration

With the legislative and presidential campaign of 2011-2012, Russia is entering a phase of uncertainty, and debates that have hitherto been reserved for the establishment have become ever more visible.…

The Impact of the Hajj Pilgrimage in the North Caucasus

The Hajj, a pilgrimage to the holy sites of Islam in Mecca and Medina, is an increasingly common practice among Russia's Muslims. According to various estimates since 2007, at least…

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North Caucasus