Challenges to Russia’s Civil Unity and Internal Stability from Religious, Ethnic and Regional Extremism

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1802379s

Keywords:

religious, ethnic, regional, civil identities, All-Russian unity, challenges, solidarities

Abstract

Based on field research of 2022-2024, the article analyses the threats to the civil unity and internal stability of Russia from religious, ethnic and regional separatism. Research was conducted in different regions of the Russian Federation, where different types of extremism as an ideology and its practical manifestations were most evident. Religious extremism was studied using the case of the Republic of Dagestan, where in-depth and expert interviews were combined with a questionnaire survey. Ethnic extremism was studied on the case of Russia’s Kazakhs, residing mainly in the regions bordering Kazakhstan and migrant communities in the Moscow and Yaroslavl regions, using the method of in-depth and expert interviews and focus groups. Regional extremism was studied by the same methods in two groups of Russian regions: in the republics of Altai, Buryatia, and Kalmykia, and in the republics of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan. Based on the study data, it can be concluded that attributes of the formation of religious, ethnic and regional extremism do exist, but in none of the regions are they crippling or irreversible. The main factors for rejection of the surrounding world and formation of extremist versions of its alteration are the insufficient effectiveness of state and public institutions for economic and social self-realization and distrust of the authorities. Also to blame is the not entirely successful resistance of all-Russian ideology against slogans of radical Islamist transformation being actively developed in different world countries.

References

Amelin, Venaly, Dmitri Denisov and Konstantin N. Morgunov. 2024. “Deyatel’nost’ religioznyh ob”edinenij Orenburzh’ya v usloviyah SMO [The activity of religious associations of Orenburg region in the conditions of SMO].” In Etnopoliticheskaya situaciya v Rossijskoj Federacii v 2023 godu. Ezhegodnyj doklad Seti etnologicheskogo monitoringa i rannego preduprezhdeniya konfliktov [The ethnopolitical situation in the Russian Federation in 2023. Annual report of the Network for Ethnological Monitoring and Early Warning of Conflicts], edited by V. Tishkov and A. Chernyh, 162-168. Perm’: Mamatov.

Dobaev, Igor, Andrei Dobaev and Ruslan G. Gadzhibekov. 2013. Radikalizaciya islama v Rossijskoj Federacii [Radicalization of Islam in the Russian Federation]. Rostov-na-Donu: Social’no-gumanitarnye znaniya.

Federal’nyj zakon ot 25 iyulya 2002 g. N 114-FZ “O protivodejstvii ekstremistskoj deyatel’nosti (s izmeneniyami i dopolneniyami).” [Federal Law No. 114-FZ of July 25, 2002 “On Countering Extremist Activitiy” (with amendments and additions)]. https://base.garant.ru/12127578/

Gabdrafikov, Ildar. 2024. “Protesty v Respublike Bashkortostan: spletenie ekologicheskih, social’no-ekonomicheskih i etnicheskih problem [Protests in the Republic of Bashkortostan: the interweaving of environmental, socio-economic and ethnic problems]”. In Etnopoliticheskaya situaciya v Rossijskoj Federacii v 2023 godu. Ezhegodnyj doklad Seti etnologicheskogo monitoringa i rannego preduprezhdeniya konfliktov [The ethnopolitical situation in the Russian Federation in 2023. Annual report of the Network for Ethnological Monitoring and Early Warning of Conflicts], edited by V. Tishkov and A. Chernyh, 182-187. Perm’: Mamatov.

Ibragimova, Elina. 2022. “Kriminal’nyj antigosudarstvennyj ekstremizm: ugolovno-pravovye i kriminologicheskie aspekty [Criminal anti-State extremism: criminal law and criminological aspects].” In Izvestiya chechenskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Proceedings of the Chechen State University] 26, no. 2: 132-138.

Maynes, Charles. 2022. “2 attackers opened fire on volunteer troops preparing to deploy to Ukraine.” NPR, https://www.npr.org/2022/10/15/1129321544/russia-soldiers-shooting-training-belgorod

Novikova, Galina and Larisa A. Novikova. 2014. Profilaktika ekstremistskih proyavlenij v molodezhnoj srede. [Prevention of extremist manifestations among young people.] Arkhangelsk.

Nuradieva, Anzhela and Umar K. Hadzhiev. 2023. “Determinanty rasprostraneniya molodezhnogo ekstremizma [Determinants of the spread of youth extremism]”. In Ezhegodnaya itogovaya nauchno-prakticheskaya konferenciya nauchno-pedagogicheskih rabotnikov (Grozny, 22 fevralya 2023) [Annual Final Scientific and practical Conference of scientific and pedagogical staff (Grozny 22 February 2023)].” 549-553. Grozny: Chechen State University Publishing.

Saidov, Akhmed. 2023. “Neravenstvo kak vazhnejshij determinant social’nogo samochuvstviya molodѐzhi v sovremennoj RF [Inequality as the most important determinant of the social well-being of young people in the modern Russian Federation]”. Bulletin of Dagestan State University, Series 3. Social Sciences 38, no. 4: 59-65.

Savin, Igor and Aleksei N. Starostin. 2022. Faktory` radikalizaciiie`kstremizma v regionaxRossii. Po materialampolevy`xissledovanij v RespublikeDagestan, Moskovskomregione, Ural`skomfederal`nomokruge v 2020–2022 gg. [Factors of radicalization and extremism in Russian regions. (Based on field research materials in the Republic of Dagestan, the Moscow region, and the Ural Federal District in 2020–2022)]. Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies.

Sushchenko, Sergei, Elena Zhidyaeva and Sergei I. Samygin. 2017. “Ekstremizm v srede rossijskoj molodezhi: social’nye i psihologicheskie istoki vozniknoveniya [Extremism among Russian youth: social and psychological origins of emergence].” Humanities, socio-economic and social sciences, no. 10. https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/ekstremizm-v-srede-rossiyskoy-molodezhi-sotsialnye-i-psihologicheskie-istoki-vozniknoveniya

Tishkov, Valery. 2021. “Strategii protivodejstviya ekstremizmu [Strategies for countering extremism]”. Izbrannye trudy: v 5 t .T. 5: Etnologiya i politika. Stat’i 1989–2021 godov. [Selected works: In 5 volumes. Vol. 5: Ethnology and politics. Articles from 1989-2021], 102-116. Moscow : Nauka.

Downloads

Published

2024-12-06

How to Cite

Savin, I. (2024). Challenges to Russia’s Civil Unity and Internal Stability from Religious, Ethnic and Regional Extremism. Politics and Religion Journal, 18(2), 379–403. https://doi.org/10.54561/prj1802379s