Caucasus SurveyPub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/23761199.2020.1871564
Lia Tsuladze
{"title":"A monocrat’s hobby and its power: on shadow politics in Georgia","authors":"Lia Tsuladze","doi":"10.1080/23761199.2020.1871564","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23761199.2020.1871564","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article discusses how shadow politics is enacted in Georgia with shadow actors setting the agenda from the political backstage. It conceptualizes acting “along with the state” as a novel form of informality, to describe a situation when state regulations are in place and shadow actors try to “correspond” to such regulations not through adapting their actions but making the state adapt to their needs via modifying formal rules. Such an enactment of shadow politics is demonstrated based on two recent environmental cases. The paper describes how, on the one hand, a shadow actor strategically uses his both visible and invisible power for informal land appropriation and construction, as well as the purchase and transportation of century-old trees, while on the other hand, authorities challenge environmental NGOs and activists resisting his “hobby” by politicizing their protest actions.","PeriodicalId":37506,"journal":{"name":"Caucasus Survey","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23761199.2020.1871564","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47210222","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Caucasus SurveyPub Date : 2020-11-24DOI: 10.1080/23761199.2020.1848332
A. Fawaz
{"title":"Sharīʿa in the Russian Empire: the reach and limits of Islamic law in Central Eurasia, 1550-1917","authors":"A. Fawaz","doi":"10.1080/23761199.2020.1848332","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23761199.2020.1848332","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37506,"journal":{"name":"Caucasus Survey","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2020-11-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23761199.2020.1848332","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42423106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Caucasus SurveyPub Date : 2020-09-01DOI: 10.1080/23761199.2020.1809808
Ingilab Shahbazov, Zaur Afandiyev
{"title":"An explorative analysis of the perception of guns and gun laws in Azerbaijan using a mixed-methods approach","authors":"Ingilab Shahbazov, Zaur Afandiyev","doi":"10.1080/23761199.2020.1809808","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23761199.2020.1809808","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Despite being a post-conflict society, Azerbaijan now enjoys relatively low levels of gun crime and firearm ownership. Adopting a data triangulation approach, this study explored the attitude of the self-select sample (n = 589) in Azerbaijan on guns and gun laws regulating the acquisition of guns, in addition to qualitative interviews. The majority of the participants were content with the current restrictive gun control policies and legislation. Firearms were viewed mostly as an instrument for hunting and self-defence. Qualitative interviews among experts and respondents with experience of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict (n = 19) largely supplemented the findings obtained through the online survey and provided in-depth insights into the meanings attached to firearms. This explorative study contributes to our understanding of the gunscape in the post-communist and post-conflict society that does not suffer from a gun epidemic. From a comparative perspective, the perceptions of Azerbaijani respondents indicate the absence of “conflict mentality” observed in some other conflict-stricken regions, as well as an extremely limited degree of cultural acceptance of guns as honourable and symbolic items to possess.","PeriodicalId":37506,"journal":{"name":"Caucasus Survey","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23761199.2020.1809808","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44210762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Caucasus SurveyPub Date : 2020-08-21DOI: 10.1080/23761199.2020.1805554
A. Weiß
{"title":"Georgien zwischen Eigenstaatlichkeit und russischer Okkupation. Die Wurzeln des russisch-georgischen Konflikts vom 18. Jahrhundert bis zum Ende der ersten georgischen Republik (1921)","authors":"A. Weiß","doi":"10.1080/23761199.2020.1805554","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23761199.2020.1805554","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37506,"journal":{"name":"Caucasus Survey","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2020-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23761199.2020.1805554","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41576145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Caucasus SurveyPub Date : 2020-08-06DOI: 10.1080/23761199.2020.1783619
Vassily Klimentov, Gražvydas Jasutis
{"title":"The Allure of Jihad: the de-territorialization of the war in the North Caucasus","authors":"Vassily Klimentov, Gražvydas Jasutis","doi":"10.1080/23761199.2020.1783619","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23761199.2020.1783619","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Insurgents in the North Caucasus switched from the al-Qaeda-affiliated Imarat Kavkaz to the Islamic State after 2014. Although this transition was partially the result of Imarat Kavkaz’s military defeat, it has also settled two decades of tension over ideology. It signalled the victory of Salafi-jihadism over a nationally rooted (radical) Islamism and led to a break between the insurgents and the Caucasian context. This de-territorialization of grievances for the war has in turn increased the threat of radical Islamist violence for Russia.","PeriodicalId":37506,"journal":{"name":"Caucasus Survey","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2020-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23761199.2020.1783619","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45525373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Caucasus SurveyPub Date : 2020-06-22DOI: 10.1080/23761199.2020.1775388
Kamala Imranli-Lowe
{"title":"The polities of the Caucasus and the regional powers in the medieval and early modern period","authors":"Kamala Imranli-Lowe","doi":"10.1080/23761199.2020.1775388","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23761199.2020.1775388","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This extended article presents an outline of the medieval and early modern history of the Caucasus based on a comparative analysis of a variety of local and international academic and other sources. It examines various local polities and their relationship with more powerful neighbours and other states, whose vassals or spheres of influence they were in or parts of. The article aims to elucidate the complexities of the Caucasus’ history which continue to affect political, societal and cultural trajectories of its ethnically and religiously diverse peoples.","PeriodicalId":37506,"journal":{"name":"Caucasus Survey","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2020-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23761199.2020.1775388","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60112701","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Caucasus SurveyPub Date : 2020-06-11DOI: 10.1080/23761199.2020.1774856
A. Bayramov
{"title":"Conflict, cooperation or competition in the Caspian Sea region: A critical review of the New Great Game paradigm","authors":"A. Bayramov","doi":"10.1080/23761199.2020.1774856","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23761199.2020.1774856","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article critically reviews the New Great Game image of the Caspian Sea region and the assumptions, concepts, and mechanisms (revolving around actors, aims, and motivations) this image is based on. More specifically, this review essay answers the following questions: How does the academic literature interpret the impact of competition between great powers on social, political and economic developments in the Caspian Sea region? Which actors are presented as the dominant players? The essay also introduces the existing criticism of the New Great Game concept and alternatives to it that have already been put forward. By identifying the gaps and limits of existing scholarship, this article offers new avenues for alternative theoretical and empirical interpretations. More specifically, this article argues that the New Great Game literature promotes unsystematic and shallow discussion as it ignores and misunderstands historical, material, political, economic, and normative differences in the Caspian Sea region. Within this discussion, actors, interests, identities, social contexts, and principles are taken to be fixed, i.e. not prone to change or to any sort of adjustment.","PeriodicalId":37506,"journal":{"name":"Caucasus Survey","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2020-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23761199.2020.1774856","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48420152","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Caucasus SurveyPub Date : 2020-05-26DOI: 10.1080/23761199.2020.1754738
H. Tchilingirian
{"title":"Armenians Beyond Diaspora. Making Lebanon Their Own","authors":"H. Tchilingirian","doi":"10.1080/23761199.2020.1754738","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23761199.2020.1754738","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37506,"journal":{"name":"Caucasus Survey","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2020-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23761199.2020.1754738","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45861903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Caucasus SurveyPub Date : 2020-05-03DOI: 10.1080/23761199.2020.1724389
Laure Delcour
{"title":"The EU’s neighbourhood policy towards the South Caucasus: expanding the European security community","authors":"Laure Delcour","doi":"10.1080/23761199.2020.1724389","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23761199.2020.1724389","url":null,"abstract":"focuses on the old propaganda slogan, the “Friendship of Nations” – now cynically devoid of any meaning. The chapter revives it by infusing it with real-life experiences, memories and understandings of Soviet migrants and Soviet citizens. Wistfulness does not give way to a blind nostalgia, as Sahadeo’s interviewees keep the narrative in place by astute comments comparing the friendship to that “of Robinson [Crusoe] and Friday” (p. 59). Chapter 3 focuses on place making practices, ambivalent welcome, and settling in. It tells the story of new beginnings, gender relations, cultural adaptions in spaces that officially lacked any form of social or ethnic segregation, but deep down were perfectly segregated (p. 91). Chapter 4 reveals how a Western concept of “race” will not do to explain the intersectionality of subordination experienced by “southern” migrants, and how ethnicity, nationality, social class, gender and social position help to revaluate and open up the discourse of Russian “racism”. Chapter 5 demonstrates the different forms, modalities and experiences of belonging in Soviet Moscow and St Petersburg and becoming svoi via personal networks or work collectives. Chapter 6 reviews the organizing analytical themes of the book – the journey, early adaptation, social mobility, links with home – through the lens of personal stories of four different traders, while Chapter 7 gives a migrant perspective to the turbulent years of perestroika, rising ethnic and linguistic tensions fuelled by extremist politics, volatile economics and bewildering legislation, as the Soviet period drew to a close. In sum, Sahadeo’s excellent book writes the much-needed pre-history, indeed prequel, to contemporary labour migration into Russia’s European cities, and firmly situates late Soviet migration as an intrinsic element of global change and development.","PeriodicalId":37506,"journal":{"name":"Caucasus Survey","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2020-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23761199.2020.1724389","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45126026","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}