Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Nearly all studies of suicide terrorism suffer from the same shortcoming: they only study groups that actually adopt such tactics, thereby selecting on the dependent variable. This paper adds to current debates by examining how groups that had previously rejected suicide terrorism come to rely on this tactic over time. More specifically, the paper examines the radicalization of Chechen guerrilla forces during the second Chechen War (1999-). The paper argues that Chechen guerrillas have increasingly resorted to suicide terrorism because of a breakdown of normative taboos against suicide in Chechen society. This normative argument, derived from constructivism, is tested against competing explanations such as military necessity, the strategic logic of suicide terrorism, and the impact of transnational ties to radical Islamic militants. To test the explanation, a computer-assisted content analysis (CATA) of guerrilla statements (1999-) is conducted to measure changes in the nature and intensity of these actors? public rhetoric. A new dataset of Chechen-launched terrorist attacks in Russia is also compiled to measure the evolution of Chechen tactics over time. These data enable us to examine the process of radicalization, as well as the link between identity and action, with greater precision than has been achieved to date.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: With the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1990-91, the majority of the 32 ethnically-defined Russian regions issued declarations of sovereignty. Of them, only Chechnya ended up battling the Russian federal government. In this paper, I demonstrate how and why the institutions connecting Chechnya and Moscow fell short of resolving differences between the two and, indeed, helped precipitate a full-fledged civil war between them. In particular, I argue that the ways in which center-region institutions and practices respond to regional-level societal traits such as ethnicity and wealth influence whether--and which part of--the state becomes a target of political mobilization. If the responsibility for a region or ethnic group’s grievances can be attributed to the central government, mobilized action against the central government is more likely to occur. In Chechnya, both ethnic and economic grievances could be attributed to the central government and the ways in which relations between the center and the regions were governed, thus justifying action directed at the center. Furthermore, the central government’s response to the Chechen demands helped justify violence as a means. From 1991 to 1994, Moscow switched back and forth between promising concessions to the Chechens and preparing for violent action, resorting to the latter in late 1994. But even before the center’s military invasion of Grozny in December 1994, more routine channels for funneling the Chechen demands faced challenges due to divisions in Chechnya: The Chechen Revolution in late 1991 severed all party and institutional ties with the federal government and led to a situation of divided power within the Chechen republic, both of which made center-region negotiations problematic.

The paper is part of a broader project that investigates federal states’ very diverse capacity to defuse struggles between central governments and sub-national actors in pursuit of greater autonomy. Acknowledging that there is no “one-size-fits-all” federal solution to conflicts in divided states, I argue that the degree to which federal institutions can contribute to peace depends on how these institutions respond to characteristics of the societies they govern. I maintain that the “peace-preserving” effects of specific federal traits are conditional on any given region’s wealth and ethnic composition.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Since the “cultural turn” of the 1990s, performance and cultural text have been recognized as elements of social movement mobilization, but the bulk of research in the field tends to emphasize strategic and instrumental action, even with regards to the tactical use of prevailing discourses through framing. While recognizing the merits of the strategic-instrumental approach, we argue that by casting attention solely to the more “front-stage” strategic aspects of cultural performance, researchers often fail to consider the role and operation of the “back-stage” deep cultural elements in trajectories of contention. Drawing upon the Chechen national mobilization (1987-1997) and the Palestinian national movement’s struggle against Israeli rule (1987-2005), we identify three central elements of deep cultural text—its basic grammar, so to speak—namely, how a nation or people thinks about itself (the subject), what it does (the verb), and who or what is the object of those actions of contention (the object). This paper identifies the deep cultural texts of Chechens and Palestinians with relation to Russia and Israel respectively. It then traces how they are played out in the heat of political contention as changes in the structure of political opportunities and threats unfold. With reference to the Palestinian and Chechen cases, we trace how deep cultural texts shape the way that political opportunities and threats can be acted upon, with the goal of offering several testable propositions about movement mobilization, in particular (1) changes in movement’s competence to sustain mobilization and commitment, (2) variations in the extent of coordination and cooperation among actors within the movement, and (3) the ability of movement leaders to craft and discipline contention.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper seeks to understand how ethnic group identity influences group behavior during conflict, e.g., when mass protests might push into spheres of violence and when they might not. I assert that in contentious political arenas, the strength of ethnic

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The relationship between the state and security has undergone repeated changes in recent years. In particular, theoretical analysis has focused upon the notion of a contested state illustrating the role of non-state actors, agencies within states and the implications of globalisation for state practice. However, it is argued that this approach restricts our understanding of governance in areas which are shaped, not by hope, but by everyday life played out against the backdrop of protracted violence. Thus, through the regulation of state power techniques of governance shape our understanding of spaces of despair. Nevertheless, although a commonplace theoretical portrayal of state practices exists, a series of questions remain unanswered. How does the state and governance of the state incorporate despair? More specifically, what are the implications for state practice which arise from the use of suicide attacks by the Chechen resistance? And, to what extent do Chechen female suicide attacks question everyday state practice in Russia? This paper seeks to offer an account of contested state practices by drawing upon the use of female suicide bombersas employed by the Chechen resistancein the second Russo-Chechen conflict. Thus by questioning spaces of hope and by examining areas of despair, the paper explores different dimensions of state practice and governance. And so, the paper suggests a strategy for deconstructing the distinction between security and insecuritystates of hope and states of despairand offers a reading of contested state practice by looking at the implications of female suicide attacks for governance and the state in Russia.