查看文章

The paper focuses on the evolution of North Caucasian resistance, from nationalistically inspired to jihadists, the peculiar “internationalization” of the movement. This process is not unique, and could be found globally. There are clear implications for terrorist activity. Nationalistic resistance usually has limited goals, eg, the creation of a nation state and, consequently, a limited pool for recruiting. At the same time, jihadist internationalists who replaced the Marxist “Proletariats of the world, unite!” with “All good Muslims, unite!” attracted all Muslims, regardless of their ethnicities. There is another reason why jihadists became attractive for quite a few Muslims. Jihadists, despite their medieval entourage, are actually a product of modernity, and usually advocate a quasi-socialist program of socioeconomic equality and an extended social security net. Jihadism also tended to engage in more suicidal terrorism than nationalistically-minded members of the resistance. On the other side, jihadists, similar to avowed Marxists, believed that, paraphrasing Marx,“Muslims have no motherland.” All of this implicated the North Caucasian resistance, its evolution, and ultimate demise.