Bonds of Blood: State-building and Clanship in Chechnya and Ingushetia

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The North Caucasus, specifically Chechnya and Ingushetia, is a region that has experienced some of the deadliest and most protracted conflicts in Europe. By examining the relationship between state and society, this book considers how state-building has unfolded in a region with highly complex social structures, a history of colonialism, Soviet authoritarianism, and later post-Soviet wars and trauma. Focusing on a systematic analysis of subnational state-building in post-Soviet Chechnya and Ingushetia, and the role of teips (clans) in this process, this study responds to the widely accepted academic claim that governance and ethnic consolidation in the North Caucasus is shaped by the politics of teips. Through socio-anthropological analysis of the clans and how they function towards political systems, Sokirianskaia shows how the teips lost their organizational structure and roles, becoming incapable of mobilizing for political action. While teip symbolism has remained politically relevant, and the bonds of kinship are highly important, they do not form the basis of politics and subnational statebuilding in Chechnya and Ingushetia. Consequently, subnational authoritarianism is not the result of the pre-existing social composition of the society, but a reflection of the rules of the game imposed by Moscow and political choices of the Kremlin-installed local elites.

Reviews

This book is a truly exceptional analysis of the sociopolitical structures and of the political developments of the North Caucasus. The author discusses with great erudition the rivalry of customary, Islamic, nationalist and Russian patterns of social integration, the transformation and disintegration of clans and the development of novel forms of power structures and ideologies. Bonds of Blood is a landmark in post-colonial studies. * Professor Zsolt Enyedi, Central European University *
This research is a deep reexamination of the roles clans play in Chechen and Ingush societies. Based on in-depth and long-lasting field work carried out under difficult conditions, Ekaterina Sokirianskaya provides us with a new analysis of a sensitive topic.In this brilliant book, she manages to show how traditional ties of belonging have adapted to the circumstances of a large scale war. This book, which gives amazing insight into colonized societies and their agency, is invaluable to all who wish to understand the functioning of Chechen and Ingush societies. Ekatarina Sokirianskaya's work rejects and dismantles the stereotypes and clichs which plague these societies. * Aude Merlin, Universit Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium *

Author Bio

EKATERINA SOKIRIANSKAIA is a recognized North Caucasus expert, Director of the Conflict Analysis and Prevention Centre, former Russia director at International Crisis Group and field analyst at the Nobel prize-winning Memorial human rights group.