Farewell to the Caucasus: Regional ethnic clan politics and the growing instability of the ruling elite after the 2012 presidential elections in Russia

2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marat Grebennikov
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Political System ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Rent Seeking ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Past Century ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
The North ◽  
Russian Politics

One of the most lingering questions about Russian politics that dominates public discourse and media coverage is the future of political regime after the 2012 presidential elections. The answer to this question is inextricably linked to the extent of differences between President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, how long their “tandemocracy” will last and what can bring about regime change as scarce critics of the Kremlin, from ultra-liberals to communists, have been haphazardly co-opted into the power system, leaving no political ambitions that they would not, in principle, be ready to abandon in return for proper compensation.In sharp contrast to the views of many regional experts and commentators, the presentday Russian Federation is the world’s most anti-Soviet state. It is based upon a very different set of values: private ownership, dire individualism, the cult of money, a clan-based political system, and pervasive corruption at all levels of government. The North Caucasus ethnocratic elites, however, do not have access to abundant resources for sale, and are forced to look around for alternative sustenance, as rigid centralism and unification limit their rent-seeking capabilities. Alexander Khloponin, the incumbent presidential envoy in charge of the North Caucasus Federal District, seems to continue the policy of buying the loyalty of regional archaic clan-based elites that aggravates rather than improves the situation.The paper addresses this puzzle: why, against rigorous rhetoric and demonstration of tight grip over the region, neither Putin nor Medvedev has real power to bring change to the North Caucasus? In an attempt to solve this puzzle, the paper examines the triadic relationship among central political elite, who benefited from the massive privatisation of lucrative segments of Soviet industry in the early 1990s, regional clan-based ethnocracy, and non-systemic religious opposition. Drawing on the works of Russian scholars and experts in Russian politics, the paper explores the hypothesis that on-going instability in the North Caucasus can no longer be explained by a well-known set of theories of ethnic violence, because it is carefully negotiated by regional and central political elite, who do not see the North Caucasus as an indispensable part of the Russian Federation and whose clan-based rent-seeking agendas have gradually driven Russian statehood into a complete dead-end. Instead of facing the real challenges that are addressed in this paper, it is only able to make a public show of action on the eve of crucial political campaigns: the 2012 presidential elections and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The paper concludes that the deep freeze in the Russian political system has exhausted its debatable potential for change through the existing tandem model of government with its obscure division of roles between two leaders. What we actually see is an imitation of political reform and the resulting degradation of the entire system of governance. Over the past century, Russian polity has never been as weak as today, because the only legitimate source of power in Russia is corruption.

scholarly journals POLITICAL and LEGAL ACTIVITY of DEPUTIES of the NORTH CAUCASUS IN the STATE DUMA of the RUSSIAN EMPIRE in the EARLY twentieth Century

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 14-18
Author(s):  
M.M. Aybatov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Central Government ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
Caucasus Region ◽  
The North ◽  
Russian State ◽  
The Government

The article analyzes the political and legal activity of the deputies of the North Caucasus in the early XX century, during the formation and activity of the State Duma. It is noted that the tsarist administration, modernizing the state-political system of the country, could not ignore the multinational and multi-confessional nature of the Russian state and therefore tried to take into account these features of the Russian state-political system. The article concludes that the involvement of regional MPs in political and legal activities of the first legislature (State Duma) at the beginning of the XX century has allowed to bring to the attention of Central government authorities, the main problems of the North Caucasus region and provides a process for the integration of national and regional elites in the Russian political elite to pinpoint the positions of North Caucasian elites in the political space of the Russian state. But many legislative initiatives put forward by the deputies of the North Caucasus did not find support from the government authorities and their decisions were ostponed indefinitely

Famous teachers and educators of the first half of the XX century about the problems of the North Caucasian muslim education.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 208-222
Author(s):  
Nadezhda O. Bleich ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Educational Process ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Past Century ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
Caucasus Region ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
New Type ◽  
Historical Heritage

The article is devoted to the consideration of the worldview positions of famous educators of the past century regarding the state of school education among Muslims of the North Caucasus region. It is proved that the enlighteners advocated the creation of a new type of national non-class school and the construction of the didactic foundations of the educational process in it. The novelty of the work is that, based on the analysis of the views of the advanced intelligentsia of the region, aimed at understanding the current socio-cultural situation, an attempt was made to scientifically understand the problems and prospects for the development of the Muslim educational system of the past from the point of view of the modern scientific paradigm. The practical significance of the publication lies in expanding the understanding of the system of Mohammedan education in the context of its historical heritage, which will help to comprehend modern problems associated with the reform of general and vocational education in the national Muslim republics.

ON CULTURAL EXTREMISM AND WAYS TO OVERCOME ITS MANIFESTATION

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-80
Author(s):  
GADZHIEV MAGOMEDEMIN M. ◽  
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
Political Extremism ◽  
Essential Component ◽  
The North ◽  
Creative Personality ◽  
The Russian Federation

Extremism prevention is an essential component of the work in the field of national security of the country. The article reveals some of the main forms of extremism, such as religious-political, ethno-social, economic, pseudoscientific, and others, and provides examples. The main content of the article is devoted to the disclosure of the essence and diversity of manifestations of cultural extremism in the country, especially in the North Caucasus and Dagestan. Numerous concrete examples are given, proving that cultural extremism takes place and sometimes takes on quite acute forms. It is shown that the manifestations of cultural extremism are more difficult to combat, since it manifests itself among more literate and intellectually savvy people and does not have open ideologically organized forms, as in the case of religious and political extremism. The article considers the current law of the Russian Federation and the draft new law on culture, which notes all the mechanisms for overcoming extremism in culture, and which clearly emphasize the primacy of the rights and freedoms of an individual creative personality.

scholarly journals The Russian Federation Museum Policy in the 1920s - at the Beginning of the 1930s (by the Example of Expositional-Educational Activity of the North Caucasus Regional Museums)

Manuscript ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 57-64
Author(s):  
Lev Alexandrovich Karapetyan ◽  
◽  
Valeriy Nikolaevich Ratushnyak ◽  
Oleg Valerievich Ratushnnyak ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Educational Activity ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
The North ◽  
The Russian Federation

scholarly journals Ethnopolitical Tensions and Assessment of the Possibility of Ethnic-National Conflicts

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 22-39
Author(s):  
Vitaly N. Naydenko
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
Tension Development ◽  
Caucasus Region ◽  
The North ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
The Republic

The article examines the problems of open and latent ethnonational tension in Russian society, which in the conditions of aggravation of the social situation, may lead to the use of spontaneous methods of solving ethnonational conflicts, including those of a violent nature. A survey of 20 experts, who are qualified specialists in the sphere of ethno-extremism counteraction and ethno-national conflict localization, conducted by the author of the article, has shown that the majority of them have assessed both the current and forecasted situation in the sphere of ethnonational relations as “tense” for the next five to seven years. In their opinion, “ethnonational tension” is conditioned by a number of long-term factors that will influence the content and dynamics of ethnonational conflict in the Russian Federation: the desire of the USA for global dominance and the confrontational policy of NATO member states towards Russia; the antiRussian policy of the Ukrainian leadership, which is attempting to accuse Russia of “unleashing and waging a hybrid war against Ukraine” and actively pushing Western countries to strengthen confrontation with the Russian Federation; attempts by some states to bring territorial claims against Russia; intensification of the fight against embezzlement of budgetary funds, systemic corruption and ethno-extremist manifestations in the North Caucasus region; the ethnopolitical situation in the Republic of Crimea, characterized by manifestations of Ukrainian nationalism and militant Islamism. According to expert estimates, the highest degree of ethnonational tension is currently maintained in the Republic of Dagestan, the Republic of Ingushetia, the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, the Karachayevo-Circassian Republic, the Republic of Crimea, the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Republic of Tatarstan. The results of research in the article testify to the necessity of constant study of the problem of ethnonational conflicts, research into the factors influencing the maintenance and dynamics of conflict potential, definition of Russian regions with an increased level of tension, development of recommendations to authorities on prevention and localization of ethnonational conflicts.

scholarly journals Seasonal and regional features of the distribution of rotavirus incidence in the Russian Federation

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 52-54
Author(s):  
A. T Podkolzin ◽  
D. E Kurochkina ◽  
G. A Shipulin
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
Federal District ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
The North ◽  
Regional Features ◽  
Rotavirus Vaccines ◽  
Rostov Region ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Nizhny Novgorod Region

In the work there was performed an analysis of the indices of recorded incidence of rotavirus infection (RVI) in the territory of 40 subjects of the Russian Federation for the period 2008-2012. For the identification of the monthly peak of the incidence there was evaluated the temporal distribution of the relative indices of the RVI incidence within each subject of the observation. There was revealed the independent beginning of the winter-spring seasonal rise of the RVI incidence in three groups of territories of the Russian Federation (1 - Kirov, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod region; 2- Republic of Khakassia, Kemerovo region; 3 - Amur region). In the territory of the South and the North Caucasus Federal District (Krasnodarsky and Stavropolsky Krai, Rostov region) there was noted the second, summer-autumn seasonal rise in the RVI incidence. The obtained data provide an overview of the seasonal-geographical distribution of the RVI incidence in the territory of Russia in conditions of the absence of the use of rotavirus vaccines

scholarly journals THE ESSENCE OF THE PHENOMENON OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION GEOPOLITICS

2017 ◽  
pp. 4-15
Author(s):  
O. Kondratenko
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
Russian Government ◽  
The North ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
Internal Politics ◽  
The Status ◽  
Russian President ◽  
The Russian Federation

The essence of the internal geopolitics of the Russian Federation (RF) and its influence on the foreign policy of Moscow is analyzed in the article. It was found that on the background of Russian nationalism the activation of separatist sentiments in the Russian national autonomies had occurred, particularly in the North Caucasus (Chechnia, Dahestan).Eventually, it caused two Chechen wars, as well as to the formation of dissatisfaction with the Center’s actions in Tatarstan, South and East Siberia and others. However, after internal politics and internal economy shocks of the 1990-th Russia has outlined a course to restore the status of a great state. An important factor for the Russian government is the support of its foreign policy by the population. It is traced that the level of electoral support of the Russian president entirely depends on the success of the Russian Federation on the international arena. Kremlin actively cultivates and uses imperial mood of society in order to justify the return of its “unjustly deprived” great power status. Therefore, governmental expansionist geostrategy obtains active support among theintelligentsia and broad social strata.

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