Russia and Chechnya: Old Conflict - "New War"?

The Russian-Chechen conflict has its origin in the 18th century. After the collapse of the Soviet Union two wars took place between the Russia and Chechnya. The aim of my presentation is to classify the Russian-Chechen wars: I focus on the question of whether these wars can be defined as new wars or, conversely, if both wars must be considered as a continuation of the old conflict with modern means. I utilize the definition of new wars set by scholars such as Münkler, Daase and Delbrück. I follow a two-step process: First, I establish a general overview of the wars´ characteristics by discussing primordial, cultural, ethnic, geostrategic as well as economic aspects. In the second step, I compare the results stated in step one to the theorems of Herfried Münkler, etc. The Russian-Chechen wars are important since inherent to them are several current aspects of international politics: the conflict between Islam and the Western culture, the enforcement and protection of universal human rights, the weaknesses of Russian democracy and the establishment of an authoritarian policy by Putin. The topic and the methods of my presentation are new compared to earlier discussions because such discussions either focused on documentation of the events and delivering prognoses or used particular elements of the wars to substantiate theoretical argumentation, whereas I link both to avoid errors in defining the nature of the Russian-Chechen wars. Furthermore, my approach allows more accurate predictions and understanding of future developments of the marginalized conflict on Europe's periphery. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]