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Religion, Society and Security

		Goals and Objectives of the Program

Charting the path of post-Soviet state-building requires an understanding of the role of religion, ethnicity, and other socio-cultural factors. In this project, staff examine the rise of nationalism, the problem of sustainable development in the oil-producing states of the Caspian Basin, the creation of a new class of political and economic elites, and the changing role of Islam in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Russia. Two separate book projects on Islam, one in English and one in Russian, explore the relationship between Islam and the social and political evolution in post-Soviet societies.

		Program Co-Chairs

	Alexey Malashenko Scholar-in-Residence
	Personal page

	Martha Olcott Senior Associate
	Personal page

		Program Coordinator

Kristina Kudlaenko
Program Coordinator
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		News and Events

12.02.2010

Magomedsalam Magomedov Becomes President of Dagestan

Magomedsalam Magomedov, the new president of Dagestan in Russia’s North Caucasus, is a compromise figure selected to help calm the region, according to Carnegie Moscow Center expert Alexey Malashenko ...

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09.02.2010

The Internal Political Situation in Kyrgyzstan

The Tulip Revolution did not mark the emergence of democracy in Kyrgyzstan. To the contrary, since 2005, limits on political rights and freedoms and the strengthening of President Kurmanbek Bakiev’s family rule have only increased, according to participants in a roundtable on the internal political situation in Kyrgyzstan held at the Carnegie Moscow Center on February 9, 2010 ...

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04.02.2010

Film by Alexey Malashenko and Anton Malashenko “The People of the Caucasus Speak about Islam”

A new documentary film by Alexey Malashenko “The People of the Caucasus Speak about Islam” – presenting footage from roundtable discussions organized as part of the Russian Civic Chamber’s Peace for the Caucasus project in various cities in Dagestan, including Makhachkala, Buynaksk, Derbent and Khasavyurt – was premiered at the Carnegie Moscow Center ...

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01.02.2010

First Anniversary of Patriarch Kirill’s Enthronement

A year after his enthronement, Patriarch Kirill has reenergized the Russian Orthodox Church, shored up his own support base and laid the foundations for a qualitatively new – if politically controversial – role for the Church in the state and society, according to the Carnegie Moscow Center’s Alexey Malashenko ...

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25.01.2010

Social Service in the Contemporary Russian Orthodox Church: Stereotypes of Behavior and Belief

In 20 years of religious freedom the Russian Orthodox Church has been unable to create a workable system for preparing its clergy and lay workers to perform social services, including missionary work, charity and moral education at schools and universities, argues Boris Knorre, professor of philosophy at the Higher School of Economics and a participant in the Encyclopaedia of Religious Life in Russia Today research project ...

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25.01.2010

Mintimer Shaimiev Steps Down as President of Tatarstan

The imminent departure of Mintimer Shaimiev as president of Tatarstan may mark the beginning of the end for the aging titans of Russian regional politics, but it may bring little if any real change to one of Russia’s most important ethnic republics, according to Carnegie Moscow Center expert Alexey Malashenko ...

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06.12.2009

International Book Fair Non/Fiction and “Religion in Eurasia” Book Series Presentation

From December 2 through December 6, 2009, the Central House of Artists in Moscow hosted the 11th annual International Non/Fiction Book Fair, Russia’s biggest yearly intellectual event, and, as always, the Carnegie Moscow Center took part ...

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24.11.2009

Tashkent Dismantling Russian and Soviet Monuments

“Tashkent is doing battling against the past,” commented Alexey Malashenko, a member of the Carnegie Moscow Center’s Research Council and an expert on Central Asia ...

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18.11.2009

Carnegie Moscow Center’s 15th Anniversary Celebrations and Conference: “20 Years Without the Berlin Wall: Breaking Through to Freedom”

On November 18, 2009, the Carnegie Moscow Center held a conference, “20 Years Without the Berlin Wall: Breaking Through to Freedom,” marking the Center’s 15th anniversary ...

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03.11.2009

Hamid Karzai Has Secured Victory in Afghanistan’s Presidential Elections

Now that Hamid Karzai has secured victory in Afghanistan’s presidential elections, he will face three key challenges, according to Carnegie Moscow Center scholar Alexey Malashenko ...

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		Publications of the program

	Edited by Alexey Malashenko and Sergei Filatov Twenty Years of Religious Freedom in Russia (in Russian)

Carnegie Moscow Center. ROSSPEN, 2009

This collection of articles spans a range of aspects of religious life in Russia over the past 20 years. Case studies of Orthodox Christianity, Islam and other faiths provide a window onto the legal foundations and practical realities of church-state relations. Other articles deal with the problems faced by Russia’s religious “renaissance,” the place of religion in contemporary Russian society, and the life of religious communities and movements. The authors also reflect on the degree to which religious freedom has been achieved in post-Soviet Russia and the constraints it continues to face.

(in the series “Religion in Eurasia”)

Press release
Book presentation at the Carnegie Moscow Center
Book series presentation as part of the Non/Fiction Book Fair program

	Alexey Malashenko Ramzan Kadyrov. The Chechen Version of Russian Authoritarianism (in Russian)

Carnegie Moscow Center. ROSSPEN, 2009

The book discusses the current situation in Chechnya and the policies of its president, Ramzan Kadyrov who has polarized public opinion. Some consider him to be the restorer of Chechnya, while others accuse him of crimes and human rights violations. From one perspective, Chechnya is a unique region of the Russian Federation, which fought twice with the central government in an attempt to gain freedom. In a different light, the system that has developed there fits in with the overall Russian political panorama. Relations between Moscow and Grozny are largely shaped through informal communication between the prime minister of Russia and the president of Chechnya. This relationship has predetermined the dictatorial character of the Kadyrov government. At the same time, in a sense, it makes the Kremlin a hostage of its Chechen protege.

Press release
Book presentation at the Carnegie Moscow Center

	Edited by Alexey Malashenko and Sergei Filatov Religion and Globalization Across Eurasia (in Russian)

ROSSPEN, Carnegie Moscow Center, 2009

The book “Religion and Globalization Across Eurasia” (second edition), edited by Alexey Malashenko and Sergei Filatov, has been published in the series “Religion in Eurasia.” (The first book in the series was “Religion and Conflict.”)
The book “Religion and Globalization Across Eurasia” is dedicated to the correlation between the development of world religions and the process of globalization. The book considers seven major religious trends: Buddhism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Islam, Protestantism, Russian Orthodoxy and paganism.

Book series presentation as part of the Non/Fiction Book Fair program


	Alexey Malashenko Russia and the Muslim World The publication analyzes the Russian Federation’s policies regarding the Muslim community and examines Russian policy towards radical Islam and its representatives. It provides an overview of Russia’s ties with different Muslim countries in the energy sector and the military-technical cooperation field.


	Alexey Malashenko Iranian Domestic Politics The latest issue of the Carnegie Moscow Center's Working Papers provides the transcript of a roundtable discussion on Iranian domestic politics which took place at the Center on November 28, 2007. Among the topics addressed were the country's current internal situation, national economic policy, religious and secular opposition, and the electoral constituency and prospects for reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.


	Alexey Malashenko What Will Happen in Turkmenistan? (in Russian) The materials in this collection represent a summary of the January 23 roundtable discussion on the future of Turkmenistan. Roundtable participants offered analyses of the internal development of the country after the death of President Niyazov; the current status and prospects of the opposition (now acting outside Turkmenistan); national priorities in foreign and energy policies; and the phenomenon of the Niyazov regime itself, which did not fit a simple stereotype of “Oriental despotism.” The participants came to several general conclusions: the country cannot but continue its progress in post-Niyazov evolution, though the level of internal liberalization or softening of the regime is in serious doubt; conflicts in the country may arise because of its clan system; and thirdly, the role of external influence will gradually grow in the country.

Briefing Papers


	Vol.11, issue 3, August 2009 Losing the Caucasus The risk of open conflict in Russia’s North Caucasus is on the verge of becoming an inevitability, argues Alexey Malashenko, a member of the Carnegie Moscow Center’s Expert Council and co-chair of its Religion, Society and Security program. In his new Briefing, Malashenko examines the situation in the region, where, despite the official end of the counter-terrorist operation in Chechnya, recent months have seen weekly and, lately, almost daily armed clashes and terrorist attacks. Malashenko sees the dire economic situation, growing inequality, unemployment, competing clan and ethnic interests, the divide between the ruling elites and the general public, the rampant corruption even by Russian standards, religious extremism, and disputed borders between and within republics as all being at the root of conflict in the region.


	February 2009 A New Direction for U.S. Policy in the Caspian Region Focusing U.S. policy in the Caspian on containing Russian and Chinese influence has done little to advance U.S. security interests, and reduced its standing in the region to its lowest level in decades. The Obama administration needs a new approach that provides opportunities for local leaders to engage with the United States in economic and political development, concludes a new policy brief by Martha Brill Olcott. Olcott recommends five building blocks for a new U.S. policy for the Caspian region: focus on military reform and capacity rather than military alliances; support fair market pricing for energy producers and consumers to promote energy independence for the Caspian region; provide technical assistance for projects that capitalize on the region’s vast renewable energy resources – biofuels, solar, and wind power; providing education and democracy assistance at the grassroots level is the best way to promote political development in the region; appoint a presidential envoy for the region.


	Volume 9, Issue 4, November 2007 The Clash is for Real

Articles and Interviews

\| 26.01.2010 \|		Any euphoria on Karabakh conflict settlement perspectives premature
		With Alexey Malashenko's commentary PanARMENIAN.Net

\| 12.01.2010 \|		Political Suicide
		Tom Balmforth (with Alexey Malashenko's commentary) Russia Profile

\| 15.12.2009 \|		U.S. Policy in Central Asia: Looking Ahead
		Martha Olcott U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

\| 10.11.2009 \|		Central Asia: Living in Afghanistan’s shadow
		Martha Olcott Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre

\| 17.08.2009 \|		At least 19 killed in suicide bomb attack
		With Alexey Malashenko's commentary RFI

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