Informal Power Structures in Russia and Ethno-Political Conflict in the Northern Caucasus

Abstract

Emphasizing the objective nature of all contradictions under consideration (social, ethnic and elitist), it is important to stress that ethno-political conflicts include a significant element of manipulation, which, according to the instrumentalist understanding of social constructions, is being used by elites as a tool to achieve their goals. Once created, a confrontation reproduces itself with the help of social forces through inertia or the forces interested in a particular state of interethnic relations. That is why regulating ethno-political conflicts is so challenging.

Keywords: ethnic conflict, ethnicity, Caucasus, ethnic elites, political system, Soviet Union, national politics, Chechnya, Russia, peace