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S. Akkiyeva,
Political analyst
KABARDINO-BALKARIAN REPUBLIC
(Monitoring of Ethno-political situation)
Ethno-demographic situation. Kabardino-Balkaria is a poly-ethnic and poly-confessional republic in the North Caucasus. Ethnic relations in it are characterized by relative stability, although there are problems of an ethno-political and ethno-confessional nature.
The territory of the republic can geographically be divided into three zones: rolling plain, piedmont and mountain.
Russians live in two districts (historically Cossack settlements) and in towns. Their number is going down.
Kabardians live in flat land districts, and Balkarians - in piedmont and mountain parts of the republic.
Armenians, Koreans, Azerbaijanis, Chechens, Georgians and Tatars also live in towns.
According to the All-Russia population census of 2010, the number of the population in the republic amounted to 859,939. Kabardians predominate (490,400, or 57.2 percent), then come Russians (193,200, or 22.5 percent), third place is taken by Balkarians (108,500, or 12.7 percent).
The urban population comprises 58.5 percent, rural population -41.5 percent. Young people take up 31 percent of the total population of the republic.
Migration processes are a serious problem having an impact on the demographic situation and the socio-economic development in the republic, as well as interethnic relations.
The unemployment level in the republic has been rather high for a long time now. By the end of 2012 the number of the registered unemployed reached 8,900 people.
According to surveillance polls, a great many young people are dissatisfied with the living standards in the republic and the lack of jobs, express the desire to emigrate, and do leave the native land for other countries. For example, in 2012 the number of those who left the republic was 6,194.
Migration processes in the republic during the past decade (and the entire post-Soviet period as a whole) have led to a change in the ethnic composition of the population of the republic and are a factor of increasing negative tendencies in the interethnic sphere.
The land problem as a source of inter-communal discord. This is one of the most difficult and controversial problems in Kabardino-Balkaria, which has become the main factor of interethnic and ethnopolitical tension in the past few years.
Ethnic representation in the bodies of power and civil society. This is one of the basic factors determining the ethnopolitical situation and the character of interethnic relations in Kabardino-Balkaria.
On the whole, the policy of the government bodies of the republic is aimed at ensuring the necessary and just representation of people of the three main nationalities in the republic in the supreme bodies of power. The head of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (1991-2011 - President) was Kabardian, and the head of the government - Kabardian (in 2005-2011 - Russians). The chairman of parliament - Balkarian, his first deputy - Kabardian, two other deputies - Kabardian and Russian. Among the deputies of the republican parliament are Kabardians, Balkarians, Russians, as well as one Ossetian, one Ukrainian and one German.
There are 776 public organizations officially registered in the republic: six regional sections of political parties; 461 public associations, including 16 young people's organizations; several dozen
public organizations of ethnic character, among them Adyge, Circassian, Russian, etc.
There are also one national-cultural autonomy in the republic (Jewish) and 16 national cultural centers of national minorities, among them Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, and some others. In 2012 it was decided to open a Club of Friendship of the peoples in the republic, which was aimed at strengthening interethnic community and cooperation between the peoples living there.
Active migration processes (including labor migration) contribute to the setting up of non-governmental commercial organizations and national cultural centers. They are functioning not only in the republican capital Nalchik, but also in other parts of the country.
There is a host of various councils and other consultative bodies in which representatives of public associations and non-governmental organizations are taking an active part. Their activity is aimed at preservation of interethnic stability and development of civil society in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic.
Religious situation. Islam, Christianity and Judaism have peacefully coexisted in Kabardino-Balkaria for many centuries. Inter-confessional meetings take place at the level of contacts between the Muslim and Russian Orthodox clergy, and the rabbi of Kabardino-Balkaria. Exchange of views and recognition of each religion contribute to the strengthening of peace, tranquility and tolerance.
Orthodoxy, Islam and Judaism strive for dialogue, without interfering in one another's affairs and without criticizing one another.
There are 178 religious organizations, including 125 Muslim ones registered in the republic. The Muslim organizations are united in a Spiritual Board of Muslims. Apart from that, a North Caucasian Islamic university with a student body of 147 has been functioning in
the republic. Its curriculum includes 23 religious and 12 secular subjects. Besides, a madrasah is open at the university and there are also courses for the studies of imams. A North Caucasian Islamic center is under construction in Nalchik.
Ineffectiveness of the republican government bodies along with reigning corruption and the clan system cause dissatisfaction of the population and form the basis of various contradictions accumulating in an explosive protest potential, which is often manifested in Islamic extremism. This especially concerns young people many of whom join extremist units and underground groups. Most of them are young men of 17 to 35 years of age, unemployed, from poor families, and with insufficient education. So-called pure Islam is for them the most understandable interpretation of the outer world and helps them adapt themselves to the changing conditions of life. According to polls, a definite part of young people does not regard participants in the bandit underground as political criminals, but see in their actions a just struggle for social justice and financial interests.
In the past decade in the conditions of the loss of ideology in Russian society the significance of religion has grown and there have been noticeable changes in culture, spiritual development, and public life in Kabardino-Balkaria. The growing tendencies of Islamization in republican society and broad distribution of radical-extremist ideology have a great impact on the population.
Religiousness has become a socially important factor in the youth medium. The number of school pupils and students believing in pure Islam, who render help to the bandit underground is growing.
Young adepts of pure Islam take up and imbibe the components of the world Muslim system (harsher Islamic standards, hajj, Arab religious literature, etc.).
Against the backdrop of the re-Islamization of the population the prestige of traditional Islam among young people is falling down. This is largely due to poor theological education of most imams who use the obsolete forms and methods of work and a shortage of well-educated Muslim clergy, who are able to oppose ideologically the supporters of radical religious trends.
Propaganda of Islamic appeal has resulted in the growth of the number of adepts of radical Islam. Some people of Slav origin have become very active in propagating extremist Islamic ideology. It should be noted in this connection that the positions of the Russian Orthodox Church are rather weak in the republic. Most priests are well-advanced in years and incapable to work actively.
Summary & recommendations. A positively-minded part of the republican population, including young people, is characterized by inactivity and absence of desire to participate in opposing extremist manifestations, especially in the conditions of ideological vacuum.
The scientific and creative intelligentsia is not active enough in public life. The sixteen youth public organizations set up by the federal and republican bodies of power do not work properly. There are no mass youth organizations, especially in rural districts, capable to represent the interests of the younger generation at various government bodies. This leads to the growing aggressiveness of young people and increases their protest potential.
Immaturity of civil society in the republic largely predetermines the further growth of negative tendencies in the confessional and inter-confessional, as well as religious spheres.
We suggest the following measures to make government policy in the sphere of culture more effective and strengthen the spiritual unity of the people of the Russian Federation, including in the sphere of religion:
To create ideology which would unite all the people and help consolidate Russian society and overcome the crisis of spiritual culture and alienation of the younger generation from the cultural heritage of Russia;
To strengthen the role of state control over social processes, particularly in the sphere of young people, and evolve a more adequate policy toward young people in line with modern time within the framework of ensuring spiritual and national security of Russia;
To organize a general monitoring system of the ethnopolitical, religious, demographic and economic situation of the peoples of the Russian Federation (in regions), as well as the upbringing and education of patriotically-minded citizens of Russia;
To create an effective system of social mobility of young Russian citizens which could help eliminate difference between declared equality of rights and opportunities for general and professional self-realization of young people.
"Etnopoliticheskaya situatsiya v Rossii i sopredelnykh gosudarstvakh v 2013 godu," Moscow, 2014, pp. 496-502.
Lola Dodkhudoeva,
Ph. D. (Hist.), Tajik Academy of Sciences (Dushanbe) TAJIKISTAN: SOCIO-CULTURAL CODE OF THE EPOCH AND POPULAR ISLAM
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