Russia's Islamic Threat
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Gordon M. Hahn
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Format: ClothPrice: $75.00
The notion that the Chechen-led jihad in the North Caucasus is an indigenous affair, far removed from the global Islamist jihad, is perhaps comforting to Americans and other Westerners, but it is a myth. Moreover, the North Caucasus jihad may be the harbinger of a much larger Muslim challenge to Russia’s political stability and state integrity. So concludes Gordon M. Hahn in this meticulously researched analysis of Russia’s emerging Islamic threat. Hahn draws an explicit picture of an already sophisticated and effective Chechen jihadist network that is expanding the territorial scope of its operations with inspiration and some assistance from the global jihadist movement. Given its proximity to large stockpiles of diverse weapons, the expanding population of Russian-based Islamist terrorists is particular cause for alarm, the author warns. The book lifts the veil on the Muslim challenge to Russia’s political stability, national security, and state integrity as well as the potentially grave threat to international and U.S. security. Hahn shows that many of the demographic, historical, socioeconomic, political, and religious factors sparking jihadi revolution in Muslim countries are extant in Russia and are driving revolutionary Islamist terrorism there. In a penetrating conclusion to the book, the author analyzes the policies that have fueled the rise of militant Islam and offers a series of important recommendations for policymakers.
"This is a very important work, which will help to fill a major gap in Western scholarship about contemporary Russia. Given the very serious threat posed by Russia-based islamist terrorists not only to Russia but to the West as well, this gap is indeed not just serious but highly dangerous. Yet for a variety of reasons, very little work on this subject has appeared in English. Dr Hahn’s work on this subject entitles him to be regarded as one of the leading experts in the world not only on the islamist threat as such, but on the entire field of Russia’s Muslim-majority regions, their internal politics, and relations between them and the federal centre in Moscow. His book is an extremely useful, detailed guide to all these issues, and will I’m sure be described by many reviewers as indispensable to everyone working not only on Chechnya and the North Caucasus, but on contemporary Russian political and security issues in general. It is superbly researched, and full of insights and intelligent analysis.”—Anatol Lieven, author of Empire: The Russian Empire and Its Rivals
“Hahn provides a groundbreaking source book for everyone concerned with Islamic terrorism in Russia.”—Martin McCauley, Emeritus, University of London
"'Russia's Islamic Threat' is not only a valuable addition to Russian studies, but also a landmark contribution to the broader literature on international terrorism and security studies from which all students of politics can and should benefit from."
— Dilshod Achilov, The Journal of Politics and Religion
Publication Date: July 9, 2007
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