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The paper is on the history of the Northwestern Caucasus between the turn of the eras and the 13th century. From among the many ethnic groups inhabiting this region since the times of Greek and Roman Antiquity, the Alans were probably the best known. Settling down first in the submontane tracts of the Northern Caucasus, they gradually ascended the accessible valleys and rendered themselves as masters of the whole area north of the Caucasus main ridge. Constantly having to find their way between the ambitions of Byzantium and the Khazar Khanate of the steppes, the Northwestern Caucasians successfully exploited the region's natural resources and engaged in long-distance trade along a side artery of the Silk Road. In the 10th century, Alans embraced Christianity and created their own state, a staunch ally of Byzantium. Alania perished in consequence of the Mongol invasion at the beginning of the 13th century. Most of its inhabitants followed their new masters into Central Asia, some have found new homes in Byzantium, Hungary and their vicinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rustow defined National Unity as the sole prerequisite to a transition towards democracy. Later, a second prerequisite was introduced: the Modern State. Despite the importance of these two prerequisites, there is a need to introduce a third prerequisite to encompass ethno-complex societies. It is difficult to achieve National Unity in ethno-complex settings, because societies are highly fragmented and the several "fragments" do not perceive themselves as equal. In this regard, macro-communal spaces act as a harmonizing pre-chamber in which similarities are enhanced but differences are not forgotten. In this paper we intend to explore the need to introduce a third prerequisite to the transitological analysis. Secondly, we propose an operational definition of macrocommunal space, adapted to the specificities of the post-soviet societies. In the third part we attempt the application of the concept to ethno-complex societies in the Caucasus and Central Asia, to measure its utility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrorist attacks in the North Caucasus and the eruption of many other ethnic conflicts in the post-Soviet space cause the fear that the old Ossetian-Ingush confrontation may also re-emerge. Ossetians are the only indigenous Christian ethnic group in the predominantly Sunni Muslim North Caucasus. They have fought a war with the Ingush over the Prigorodnyj district, which was part of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Republic inhabited mainly by the Ingush before they were deported by Stalin in the early 1940s. After their return, the punished Muslim Ingush have tried in vain to regain their territory, which has ultimately resulted in a bloody war in the early 1990s. Unlike the other wars in the former Soviet republics, this was not a vertical conflict. The present paper tries to analyse the historical background and roots of the antagonism between the two neighbouring North Caucasian peoples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous academic work on stability in Dagestan has focused on two potential cleavages, the republic's ethnic diversity and the challenge from radical Islamist groups. Using results from a December 2005 survey, and focusing on Dagestan's six main ethnic groups, this paper investigates attitudes towards the dual topics of the politicization of ethnicity and the relationship between terrorism and Islamism. We find that Dagestanis maintain layered conceptions of identity, and do not attribute violence predominantly to radical Islam in the republic or the wider North Caucasus. Scholars should be aware of Rogers Brubaker's concept of groupism in analyzing not just ethnic groups, but religious movements as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents one of the first attempts at a scholarly reassessment of the notions of the Caucasus and Caucasian identity. It consists of two parts, the first of which explores the main historical events that had formative influences on the Caucasian region and its inhabitants and the second of which deals with the challenges of post-Soviet nation building in the region. In this context, Russia regarded its relations with the state of Kartli-Kakheti, one of the most powerful state creations in the region, as being of particular importance.

In nineteenth-century Russia, the Caucasus was a large region composed of various territories and ethnic and religious groups. This region included Circassia, Mingrelia, Georgia, a part of Armenia, the ancient Media, Daghestan and the territories of Suanctians, Ossetians, Abkhazians, Karakalpaks and other mountaineer nations. In this study, focusing mainly on the nineteenth century, and how Russians occupied the Caucasus because the way Russians occupied and controlled the Caucasus had great impact on relations between them and the Caucasians. As Edward Allworth writes, Russian conquest, forced migrations and other brutal measures that the Russians used for their conquest of the Caucasus "inflicted scars upon the relationships between the invaders and invaded."