In 1993, Chechnya declared independence from Russia and has since fought for their independence from Russia (Vendina, Belozerov, and Gustafson, “The Wars in Chechnya nd Their Effects on Neighboring Regions,” p. 180). Many critics cite ethnic separatism or economic independence as the reason for the passionate Chechen secessionist movement, but political pressure from radical supporters of Chechen leaders is probably a more accurate explanation. Yeltsin and Putin had different political reasons for their wars in Chechnya, but the Chechen opposition also changed between the two wars, from the Chechen rebel state to individual Chechen warlords and groups. In particular, Russian leaders were enacting a policy of containment in Chechnya, while Chechen leaders shifted from demanding Chechen independence to being instruments of Russian efforts to contain the conflict to Chechnya. The main difference between the two wars was the catalyst for the war, but the underlying reasons for going to war were very similar. President Boris Yeltsin decided to invade Chechnya due to a perceived need to demonstrate that the Russian government was strong and capable of suppressing such an uprising. Yeltsin had a political agenda in which the priority was to institute a federal state where local governments took on a larger role compared to the former soviet state (Hughes, “From Federalisation to Recentralisation,” p. 129). Yeltsin was decentralizing power by granting more legislative powers to the regional governments, but Yeltsin still needed political support from the regional governors in order to pass legislation in the upper house of the Duma (Zhuravskaya, “Federalism in Russia,” p. 61). So Yeltsin started granting selective concessions to carefully... ... middle of paper ... ...r’s position. Ramzan Kadyrov’s strong military presence and the extreme warlords’ disappearance both contribute to less violence in Chechnya, but the conflict instead is expanding to the greater North Caucasus. Russian actors were focused on containing Chechen criminality and instability to Chechnya and Chechen actors shifted from fighting for independence to becoming puppets for the Russian government. However, the different catalysts of the two wars – the first being a response to a declaration of independence and the second being a response to terrorism – are the most significant differences when determining the causality of the wars. Works Cited Treisman, Daniel, "The Return" Vendina, Belozerov, and Gustafson, “The Wars in Chechnya nd Their Effects on Neighboring Regions” Hughes, “From Federalisation to Recentralisation” Zhuravskaya, “Federalism in Russia”
International politics as one may imagine includes foreign affairs. This is why the topic and focus of this paper revolves around the current event within Eastern Europe. It will focus on both Russia, Ukraine, and the world, and from it, it will be analyzed by using the resources provided within class. After all it is a International Politics course, and one of the best ways to effectively put the skills and knowledge to use is to focus on an event or current event. The paper will attempt to go over in a chronological order of the events that has happened, and what is happening currently over in Ukraine. Afterwards, an analyzed input will be implemented providing reasoning behind Russia's actions, and actions of the world, and potentially some solutions.
Martin, Terry. 1998. "The Origins of Soviet Ethnic Cleansing." The Journal of Modern History 813-861.
To better understand the current situation, it is important to understand the relationship between Chechnya and Russia. Prior to 1994, Chechnya was a secular Muslim “state” within the former USSR and the Russian Federations. As the Russian Federation began to assume its standing in the place of the USSR, the former member states of the USSR pushed for various recognitions of independence within the proposed federative treaty. In March 1992, the Republic of Chechnya refused to sign the treaty and formally declared its independence from Moscow. Chechnya was the only entity to make this declaration and attempt at secession among Russia’s 89 republics and region. (6) In 1994, under the direction of then Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Chechnya’s independence aspirations were quashed when Russian forces attacked and effectively leveled Grozny, Chechnya’s capital city. The result was a truce, lasting from 1996-1999. During this timeframe, Chechen separatists began bombing various pro-Russian government and ...
The United States and Russia have been battling off pernicious factions menacing the stability of their democracies over the years. Russia has come a long way over the past century, enduring a number of different phases that have completely desecrated any power Russia may have had paralleled to the rest of the world. The United States, however, has been evolving into a prosperous world power that has led to new respect from many other nations. Both Russia and the United States have struggled in the past at maintaining a significant amount of cultural commitment to preservation of specific aspects of their respective democracies. Having a relatively new democracy, Russian citizens have different perceptions and expectations of government from those of United States citizens. With new liberties and freedoms, Russians are struggling to grasp the concept of capitalism and participation in government. In order to preserve strong features of democracy, such as the right to vote or freedom of speech, a country's constituents must respect and positively view their government. They must have faith in that the government is working for their best interests. Physically, the United States and Russia have been impacted greatly by their geography. Historically, the backgrounds of Russia and the United States are of stark contrast. Traditionally, Russians have a difficult time believing in the stability of their government as it has changed a number of times. Geography has had a profound influence on the Russian psyche. Russia is a land that lies open to invasion and the elements, for it possesses no major natural barriers. In the southeast, there are great plains that allow easy entrance to any would-be conquero...
In 1998, the autonomous region of Kosovo inside Serbia was being torn apart. The entire Kosovo War had many key actors. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (consisted of Serbia and Montenegro) wanted to claim the region as theirs but not without the opposition of the Croats (Croatia). The two main bellig...
It caused the destruction of Grozny (Chechnya’s capital city) and damages to other towns as well. A man named John Dunlop estimates that 11,500 Russian and Chechen combatants died, while 25,000 to 29,000 civilians died of the bombing of Grozny (Hughes, 82). Overall, it is estimated that the total death of the conflict was about 46,500. What is interesting is how well supplied the Chechens were during the war with the type of weaponry they possessed. However Chechens lacked trained officers. In the first Russian-Chechen war battle, 200 out of 350 armored vehicles were destroyed or captured (Hughes, 84). In this battle, it is declared that 500 soldiers were killed. Despite having a good outcome for the Chechens, their President did not have a great outcome. In April 1996, Dudaev was killed by a Russian air strike of which he possibly revealed his location to the Russians by the Russians promising to negotiate with him. Removing Dudaev allowed the Russians to remove a major obstacle of negotiating. After the war, Presidential and legislative elections occurred in Chechnya. A man named Maskhadov soon became the leader of Chechnya after winning an election of 60% of votes. Soon, a peace treaty was signed with Chechnya and Russia. The treaty saw the new Chechen President as a respected statesman, but this treaty would later on
Kadiev, A. (1999). Opinion: A Chechen view of Russia’s war. Retrieved on March 1, 2011, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/577525.stm.
Shortly after the decline of the agreement, Yanukovych accepted a “new deal from Russia in the form of $15 billion in aid and other economic benefits (Curran). This led to a massive protest in the once beautiful city of Kiev, which is now a battlefield of government officials versus citizens who disagree with the president's decision to side with Russia, a country who has a vivid histor...
... both Western Europe and Russia are attempting to impose their view of politics and international relations upon Eastern Europe has caused both sides to exhibit ambivalent stances towards one another, agreeing with one another only when it is their best interests, and disagreeing on many aspects frequently. While both sides wish to become closer to the other, for the obvious economic and strategic benefits, it is unlikely to happen in the near future without a drastic change in one side’s ideology.
These sort of intrusive actions aren’t necessarily new for Moscow. Russia invaded Georgia in 2008. Ultimately the West mounted enough diplomatic pressure to end that short lived conflict. However, Russia did seize Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Russian troops still occupy. The US, along with European...
The Russo-Chechen war that ended in 1996 should have given the Russian government a feel of things to come when they decided to attack in late September of last year. Triggered by security challenges to the State, Russia decided that the democracy would be in danger if they didn’t act. Russia was in a politically unstable situation right now with the resignation of Yeltsin, and the current Presidential elections looming. Also looming on the political horizon was the concern over rampant corruption in the government. If they had done nothing Yeltsin’s party would have stood to lose, yet Putin, (Yeltsin’s successor) succeeded in focusing the medias attention on the war rather that the domestic corruption.
When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on December 1979, the goal was to help Afghan communist forces set up a communist government. The Soviet Union felt Afghanistan had key resources and a foothold in the Middle East to spread communist ideas. The result would be a war that the Soviet Union wishes it never got involved in and likened to their “Vietnam War”, meaning winning a number of battles but not the war like what happened to the U.S. in Vietnam. The background of the war, outcome of the war, and impact on the United States are key to understanding the Soviet-Afghan War.
In the past ten years the Afghan Government has been dealing with a number of issues that have caused problems for the country, problems such as illegal drug trade, terrorism and violence. But nowadays they are fighting a problem that has long existed between people, and quite recently has taken a whole new aspect to it. Ethnic conflict is the destructive factor that has caused problems between people for generations, often leading to fights, outbreak of violence and grudge between different ethnicities.
The Ukrainian crisis was a result of social upheaval against the former president, Mr. Yanukovich, who decided to pull out of the association with the European Union (BBC News, 2014). The upheaval that lasted for about two months resulted in more than 100 people killed (NY Times, 2014). In February 22 Mr. Yanukovich disappears and the opposition takes control over the government in Ukraine (BBC News, 2014). Upon learning that Mr. Yanukovich is currently residing in Kazakhstan, the new government of Ukraine requests from Kazakhstan the extradition of the overthrown president, who is accused of crime against the Ukrainian citizenry.
The conflict between the Ukraine and Russia is the Ukraine's most long-standing and deadly crisis; since its post-Soviet independence began as a protest against the government dropping plans to forge closer trade ties with the European Union. The conflict between Russia and the Ukraine stems from more than twenty years of weak governance, the government’s inability to promote a coherent executive branch policy, an economy dominated by oligarchs and rife with corruption, heavy reliance on Russia, and distinct differences between Ukraine's population from both Eastern and Western regions in terms of linguistics, religion and ethnicity (Lucas 2009).