Retaliation in Rebellion: The Missing Link to Explaining Insurgent Violence in Dagestan

Jean-François Ratelle and Emil Aslan Souleimanov

Terrorism and Political Violence, 2017, vol. 29, issue 4, 573-592

Abstract: This article posits that the remnants of archaic sociocultural norms, particularly the honour-imposed custom of retaliation, play a crucial role in the process of insurgent engagement in Russia's autonomous republic of Dagestan. Through a series of interviews with former insurgents, this study outlines two retaliation-centred mechanisms: “individual retaliation” and “spiritual retaliation” in order to explain the microcosm of motives behind insurgent activity in Dagestan. In doing so, this study problematizes the role of Salafi/Jihadist ideology as the main impetus for insurgent violence. Reversing the traditional causal link between violence and religion, this study also demonstrates that the development of Jihadist ideology is a by-product of insurgent mobilization rather than its cause.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1080/09546553.2015.1005076

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