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Example research essay topic: Conflict Taxonomy Historical Background Russian Chechnya - 1,943 words

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Conflict taxonomy - Historical background - Russian Chechnya The conflict in Chechnya has much deeper causes than it is generally accepted. In order to understand them; well need to define principles of Russias expansion. When we look at this issue from historical prospective, it will appear that expansion of the Russian empire can only be described in geopolitical terms. If French, British and other European imperial powers only pursued purely economical interests, while claiming territories around the world, Russia strived for nothing less but organically incorporating occupied countries in its body.

European empires were based on the principle of blood while Russian empire is built on the principle of soil. Such Russian geopolitical practice had started as far back as 1530, during the reign of John the Terrible. From this time on, Russias main goal was land gathering regardless of their race. Russia began practicing the theory of multiracial melting pot long before U. S.

and European countries started to follow her footsteps in comparatively recent past In 1830, Russia invaded the Caucasus region, mostly populated by Muslims. But in Chechnya it met with fierce resistance, which, though it went through some latent periods, never completely died down. From 1830 to 1854 Russian Czar Nicholas I and Caucasian leader Imam Shall fought a bloody war, with Russians finally occupying and annexing Caucasus only due to their greater numbers. During the Communist Revolution of 1917, Dagestan which included Chechnya at the time declared its independence as a North Caucasian Republic. In 1919, the anti-Bolshevik forces conquered the NCR, but were forced to withdraw after the Islamic rebels received support from the Bolsheviks. In 1921, the Communist authorities set up Soviet Socialist Autonomous Mountain Republic consisting of the Chechens, Ingush, Ossetians, Kabardians, Balkans, and Karachi.

A year later, Chechnya was detached from the Mountain Republic. However, the independent Dagestan-Chechnya nation called the North Caucasian Republic was not fully conquered for 6 years. When de facto independence ended in 1923, the republic was split in three parts within the Russian Federation Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia. Eventually, Chechnya and Ingushetia were united as a Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Roman Khalilov in his article The Russian-Chechen conflict states: The Chechens and Ingush presented a special problem. Inhabiting the nearly inaccessible mountain ranges bordering on Dagestan, they were always, from the Russian point of view, a troublesome element. In assimilable and warlike, they created so much difficulty for the Russian forces trying to subdue the North Caucasus that, after conquering the area, the government felt compelled to employ Cossack forces to expel them from the valleys and lowlands into the bare mountain regions. (Khalilov). In 1944 Stalin deported tens thousands of Chechens in Siberia because they were suspected in collaboration with Germans.

This was only the time when Chechens were being subdued quite peacefully. In the 19 th century oil deposits were discovered near Grozny and in the low mountains situated between There and Sunzha. The development of oil production in the early 20 th century and notably during the soviet period explains the arrival of Russian manpower in Chechnya. In 1917 the restrictions on free circulation for the Chechen, introduced by the Tsarist government, were revoked In 1991 Chechnya declares independence from Russia, yet since it remained the subject of Russian Federation upon the collapse of USSR, Moscow refuses to recognize its independence and sends troops to stump out any resistance. Drunken Russian generals brag that itll only take a day or two to reestablish constitutional order. The reality check comes to Russians a year later, after 15. 000 Russian soldiers are being killed and 2300 of tanks and armored infantry carriers are being destroyed.

President Boris Yeltsin realizes that Russia face a full-scale war. And this what really happens an unprecedented case of worlds power being unable to effectively put an end to armed resistance on its own territory. Countries throughout the world begin to realize that Russias power is being greatly exaggerated. This causes former Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe to demand being accepted in NATO, without being afraid of Russian contra-measures. In 1995 it seems like Russia was finally able to win the war when her forces managed to occupy Chechen capital Grozny.

Yet, in 1996 Chechen rebellion forces of 5000 had liberated Grozny. Russians lose 30, 000 soldiers killed and missing in action. Russian leaders began to realize that if resistance is not stamped out at any cost, many other Russian ethnic republics would declare independence and it would be only the matter of time before Russia collapses as a state. Still, it was clear to everyone that Yeltsin couldnt effectively deal with a problem. He had no choice but to pass power to his successor Vladimir Putin, who would go as far as using chemical weapons on his own people.

The allegations of Russian forces using chemical weapons in Chechnya were being rejected by Western powers that wanted to preserve some kind of stability in this country. In 1999 hundred thousands Russian troops enter Chechnya again. This time they were able to seize much of a country, yet resistance continues in the mountainous regions. Despite Russian claims that the republic is now pacified, Russian authorities are still being attacked on almost daily basis. Rebels have now switched to hit and run and terror tactics. Many historians still cannot quite understand why Russians were met with so much hatred in this part of the world.

There is not one single explanation to this conflict and one must look at a variety of reasons in understanding why it has been so protracted. Looking at the various theorists may help to explain why the conflict has not shown little sign of resolution. Chechen are a mountain ethnic group, and they call themselves. Mountain collective identity (common history, tradition and culture) subsists today, and mountain ethnic groups are different, for example, from steppe ethnic groups of the Northern Caucasus. This designation means the Chechen are natives of mountains, or at least mountains are their historical lands. Until now, they possess in the mountains their cemeteries; reserved for members of the same nation.

This is the main reason of the Chechen conflict, which indeed is first of all an ethno-territorial conflict... Chechnya decided to split off from the large and complex geopolitical bloc that is the Russian Federation. Only a quick and decisive approach in dealing with these people can be effective But there is no Stalin in modern Russia, so the conflict is likely to continue on for as long as they are any Chechens left. There are many modern theories of what is civil war and how to deal with it. In my opinion, all of them are heavily influenced by the fact that most of their authors had never participated in such conflicts. Therefore, it is explainable why many of them put emphasis on economic reasons as those that really underline these types of conflicts.

One of such theoreticians is Paul Collier, who thinks that: Civil war is not the inexorable result of historic grievances or ethnic hatreds, its incidence can be brought down by intelligent and vigorous deployment of economic, military and political assistance (Collier). This sounds exactly like the UN rhetoric Yet, as practice shows, ethical hatred accounted for 60 % of all civil wars throughout the history. Therefore Colliers point of view can be very well accepted among students of Western universities, but I doubt that the same would happen on the streets on Beirut or Grozny This author suggests that only economical ways of dealing with ethical conflicts can be effective. If we were to vulgarize his theory it would sound like this as long as people have full stomachs, they wont revolt. This, of course, cant be truth because peoples needs are not always purely materialistic. Ted Gurr's concept of relative deprivation is much closer to explaining the true motives behind Chechen war.

He was able to observe that armed uprising dont usually occur among people who suffer any particular kind of deprivation in its ultimate form. Quite contrary civil wars usually happen when political and economical situations begin to stabilize. He says: In summary, the primary source of the human capacity for violence appears to be the frustration-aggression mechanism. Frustration does not necessarily lead to violence, and violence for some men is motivated by expectations of gain. The anger induced by frustration, however, is a motivating force that disposes men to aggression (Gurr). Many critics note that this authors explanation of civil wars is overly psychological The theory of relative deprivation is one of those academic attempts to bring the full spectrum of an analyzed event to one single point, therefore it cant be truly objective.

It is quite obvious that Gurr simply plays with psychological terms, in order to make his theory unintelligible to such an extent that many people would consider it as truly sophisticated. I personally think that there can be no single theory of civil conflict, which could be equally applicable in all the cases. Edward Azars approach to dealing with civil conflicts is the most efficient one. This is because, in his opinion, every conflict is unique.

Every social, cultural and demographic factors need to be thoroughly studied before we can come to an effective resolution of such conflict. Therefore, before coming up with recipes of how to end civil unrest in every particular country, political scientist needs to spend a lot of time in the field Western political scientists seem to exaggerate the importance of economical factor in this case. This is the clear situation when nation simply strives for independence because its people rightly consider that only full sovereignty will guarantee their nation the best prospects. The idealistic drive to be free and to be able to maintain its traditions and religion is what causes Chechens to keep on attacking Russian forces even in situation when the cause seems to be lost. Russia needs to subdue Chechnya otherwise itll fall apart like a card house, given the fact that the form of this country is Federation. This seems to be the only valid explanation for Russia trying to keep Chechnya within.

The issue her isnt Russias national pride, but very existence of this state. Bibliography: Collier, P. Development and Conflict (October 1, 2004). Center for the Study of African Economies. Oxford University. Retrieved December 18, 2004 from web Gurr, T. "A Comparative Study of Civil Strife, " (1969) Violence in America.

New York: Bantam Books, pp. 572. Traynor, I. A War that Doesnt Exist (May 10, 2004) The Guardian. Retrieved December 18, 2004 from web Khalilov, M. The Russian-Chechen conflict (February, 2004). Eurasian Politician.

Retrieved December 18, 2004 from web Bouckaert, Peter. (January 2003) Russia: Into Harms Way: Forced Return of Displaced Placed People to Chechnya. Retrieved October 26, 2004. Online journal of Human Rights Watch. Vol. 15, No. 1 (D). web Global IDP Database. Background to the conflict: The conflicts in Chechnya, Retrieved November 16, 2004.

web F 2 C 12568 C 100292 CC 2. Betancourt, Theresa Stichick. (2003). Stressors, supports and the social ecology of displacement: psychosocial dimensions of an emergency education program for Chechen adolescents displaced in Ingushetia, Russia. Cambridge, MA. Tishkov, Valerie Aleksandrovich. (2004) Chechnya: life in a war-torn society.

University of California Press, California. web Level, Anal; Lechtreck, Roy 2003. Through a distorted lens: Chechnya and the Western media. Peace research Abstracts Journal, l vol: 40 iss: 4. : Sage Publications, Ontario, Canada. Seely, Robert (2003). Russo-Chechen conflict, 1800 - 2000 Peace Research Abstracts, v. 40, n. 4, Sage Publications, Ontario, Canada.

Nichols, Thomas Putin's First Two Years: Democracy or Authoritarianism? New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999.


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