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example, the budget of USAID programs in Uzbekistan for 2011 was $11,335 million, in 2012 - $12,940 million, and in 2013 - $12,595 million.
USAID supports the fruit and vegetable producers, and agricultural firms and associations in Namangan, Ferghana and Samarkand regions to increase profits by introducing new technologies. More than 1.7 thousand people have taken part in these programs.
In the health sector, the Agency funds programs to reduce the spread of infectious diseases (HIV / AIDS, TB) among at-risk populations. Also, the information programs are implemented to prevent trafficking work.
NDI is also worth noting among major American institutions in Uzbekistan.
The Institute has been operating with financial support from USAID since 2003. NDI collaborates with international organizations, NGOs, research centers, as well as political parties.
"Tsentralnaya Aziya: problemy i perspektivy (vzglyadis Rossii i Kitaya)."Moscow, 2013, pp .67-73.
A. Adiev,
Ph.D. (Political sciences), R. Abakarov,
Ph.D. (Philosophy), Regional Centre for Ethno-political Studies DSC RAS, Makhachkala ETHNO-POLITICAL AND CONFESSIONAL PROCESSES IN MODERN DAGHESTAN
Daghestan is a special region of Russia, which has been formed not on the ethnic or territorial principle. Different peoples live quite densely in the republic, separated by administrative and interstate
boundaries: the Lezghins, Azerbaijanis, Tsakhurs, Avars live in the south, the Chechens - in the west, and the Nogais - in the north-west. A physical map of Daghestan shows the geographical areas of the republic: mountains, foothills, the Caspian Lowland, steppes and semi-deserts. Historically, Daghestan was a geographic area, not a state. Up to half a dozen small feudal formations and several free societies and their have existed in this area prior to its joining Russia. The northern part of modern Daghestan, populated by the northern Kumyks, the Terek Cossacks, and the Nogais, had no relation to the "land of mountains" until the establishment of Soviet power in the region. All these historical and geographical factors have predetermined the emergence of a number of ethno-political and religious issues in postSoviet Daghestan.
Dynamics of ethno-political processes
The ethno-political processes in Daghestan have an independent logic of development, although there has been a definite correlation from the zero years of the 21st century: the politicization of Islam is going on against the background of the depoliticization of the ethnic factor. However, the "risk factors" associated with ethno-political issues are still strong in the country.
This problem remains quite impressive to this day. There is no "blank spots" in the study of the history, causes and essence of ethnic conflicts in the republic. Among the most serious problems are:
- requirement for territorial rehabilitation and the restoration of Auhovsky district of Daghestan inhabited by the Chechens living in Dagestan;
- separation of the Lezghins and other peoples of Daghestan (Avars, Tsakhurs) with the help of the Russian-Azerbaijani border;
- reunification of the Nogai ethnos within one administrative entity, separated by the administrative boundaries between Daghestan, Stavropol territory and Chechnya;
- the problem of the Kumyk people, who have become an ethnic minority in their own land as a result of both the planned and spontaneous migration of Daghestani highlanders to Daghestani plains.
The recovery of the Auhovsky district and the relocation of the Laks from there has become one of the most complex ethno-political conflicts. The problem affects the interests of four ethnic groups: the Daghestani Chechens, the Laks, the Avars and the Kumyks. In 1944, the Daghestani Chechens were deported to Central Asia with their tribesmen of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Republic. The Auhovsky district of Daghestan, where they had lived, was abolished, and their villages were renamed and settled by Laks, often violently and even with casualties. As a result, a newly created district of Novolaksky came into being. Three big Chechen villages were transferred to the nearby Kazbek district and settled by Avars. Since the end of 1980s, the Chechens have been actively seeking restoration of their ethnic area. According to the law on rehabilitation adopted in 1991, the Third Congress of People's Deputies of Daghestan decided to return houses to Chechen families in the Novolaksky and Kazbek districts.
The leadership of Daghestan and the Russian Federation have agreed with the Laks leaders regarding resettlement of the Lak people in a new location, near the city of Makhachkala, the capital of the Republic of Daghestan. A shortage and delay of financing have become a chronic problem in the implementation of the resettlement program. Ethnic conflicts are possible in the reconstruction process of the Chechen Auhovsky district after resettlement of the Laks.
In October 2012, the former Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation Sergei Stepashin asked the Prime Minister
Dmitry Medvedev to allocate an additional 6.6 billion rubles to complete the resettlement program of the Laks, believing that the delay might lead to the emergence of new ethnic conflicts in the region.
The problem of the divided nation has become another ethno-political issue in the region after the collapse of the U.S.S.R. Several ethnic groups in Daghestan (Lezgin, Avar, Tsakhur) have been separated as a result of the demarcation of the state borders, which increased tension in the region. At present the leaders of the national movements of the separated peoples of Daghestan work together to reach common approaches to the better protection of the interests of their communities. A special meeting of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation was held in June 2011 on the situation involving the people of the North Caucasus. The Organization "Lezghin Federal National Cultural Autonomy" set up in 1999 holds meetings, conferences and international symposiums jointly with Russian ministries, the State Duma and the regional authorities. This organization has its own website and research center, studying the history and culture of the Lezghins.
The ethno-political problems in modern Daghestan show the politicization of the ethnic factor, which has started after the collapse of the U.S.S.R. Already in the early 1990s there were dozens of political movements in Daghestan, which managed to overcome their differences and establish a coordinating body - the Congress of the Peoples of Daghestan, which included representatives from some twenty parties and movements of the Republic. However, the Congress has failed to reach agreement on the future of the state system of Daghestan. There was a split of the Daghestani movements into two blocs: one demanded the federalization of the Republic and greater autonomy for the ethnic territories, and the other called for the unity and integrity of Daghestan, in fact, for the preservation of the status
quo. The split also touched the historical and geographical border of the "country of mountains" and later territories of some neighboring peoples.
The post-Soviet leadership has identified the idea of federalization with the beginning of the division of the country into several parts, which could hardly keep their autonomy or to obtain the status of subjects of the Russian Federation along with the collapse of Daghestan and ethnic conflicts in neighboring regions. After the collapse of the Soviet Union representatives of the divided peoples and ethnic minorities were among the most active proponents of the federalization of Daghestan. Many leaders of the ethnic movements have converted the social capital gained during mass protests into their personal status and financial benefits, having greatly disappointed their followers. Thus, the role of ethnic movements in the political life of Daghestan has gradually decreased.
The transformation of these problems can be traced back to the dynamics of the key concepts and terms in research in this scientific discourse. Initially, it involved the following concepts: separatism, nationalism, autonomy, national-territorial self-determination, federalization, ethnic conflicts.
Gradually, the notions of separatism and ethnic conflicts have ceased to be replicated in an advanced research and analytical discourse.
It became clear that there were no serious ethnic conflicts in Daghestan, such as the Ossetian-Ingush conflict. There were no threats of separatism: none of the ethnic groupings demanded independence or called for the separation of Daghestan from Russia.
(to be continued in the next issue)
"Nauchnaya mycl Kavkaza, " Rostov-on-Don, 2013, №4, pp. 137-144.
