1st Edition
Routledge Handbook of the Caucasus
The Routledge Handbook of the Caucasus offers an integrated, multidisciplinary overview of the historical, ethno-linguistic, cultural, socio-economic and political complexities of the Caucasus. Covering both the North and South Caucasus, the book gathers together leading Western, Caucasian and Russian scholars of the region from different disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Following a thorough introduction by the editors, the handbook is divided into six parts which combine thematic and chronological principles:
- Place, peoples and culture
- Political history
- The contemporary Caucasus: politics, economics and societies
- Conflict and political violence
- The Caucasus in the wider world
- Societal and cultural dynamics.
This handbook will be an essential reference work for scholars interested in Russian and Eastern-European studies, Eurasian history and politics, and religious and Islamic studies.
1. Introducing the Caucasus, Galina M. Yemelianova and Laurence Broers; Part I: Place, Peoples and Culture; 2. Caucasus paradigms revisited, Florian Mühlfried; 3. Peoples, languages and lore, John Colarusso; 4. The early Christian Caucasus, Stephen H. Rapp Jr.; 5. The Muslim Caucasus: the role of ‘Adats and Shari¿ah, Galina M. Yemelianova and Svetlana I. Akkieva; Part II: Political History; 6. The ‘long millennium’: the Caucasus from the medieval to the early modern periods, Laurence Broers and Galina M. Yemelianova; 7. The Caucasus in the Russian Empire, Timothy K. Blauvelt; 8. Between the Russian Empire and the USSR: the independence of Transcaucasia as a socio-political transformation, Arsène Saparov; 9. The Soviet Caucasus, 1920-91: resistance and accommodation, Jeremy Smith; Part III: The Contemporary Caucasus: Politics, Economics and Societies; 10. Azerbaijan: politics, society and economy since independence, Audrey L. Altstadt; 11. The new Georgia: politics, economy and society, Ghia Nodia; 12. Armenia: from revolution to revolution, Alexander Iskandaryan; 13. The north-eastern Caucasus: Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia, Galina M. Yemelianova; 14. The north-western Caucasus: Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachaevo-Cherkessia and Adygea, Galina M. Yemelianova and Svetlana I. Akkieva; Part IV: Conflict and Political Violence; 15. Ethno-territorial and secessionist conflicts: causes and trajectories, Laurence Broers and Galina M. Yemelianova; 16. Unrecognised statehood? The de facto states of the South Caucasus, Laurence Broers; 17. Jihadist violence in the North Caucasus: political, social and economic factors, Domitilla Sagramoso and Akhmet Yarlykapov; 18. Transnational Salafi and jihadist networks: from an independent insurgency to a leaderless network, Jean-François Ratelle; Part V: The Caucasus in the Wider World; 19. Russia in the Caucasus, S. Neil MacFarlane; 20. The South Caucasus and the West: from hegemony to contestation, Licínia Simão; 21. Turkey and the Caucasus: mutual interests and influences in the post-Soviet era, Bayram Balci and Thomas Liles; 22. The Caucasus and Iran, Kelsey Rice; 23. The Caucasus and the Caspian Sea: legality, energy politics and regional security, Stanislav Pritchin; Part VI: Societal and cultural dynamics; 24. Demography of the Caucasus, Edward C. Holland and Jennifer S. Wistrand; 25. Gender and society in the Caucasus, Lala A. Aliyeva; 26. Civil society in the Caucasus: voluntary youth organisations, Huseyn Aliyev; 27. New media and digital activism: comparing Armenia and Chechnya, Karena Avedissian
Biography
Galina M. Yemelianova is a Research Associate at the Centre of Contemporary Central Asia & the Caucasus in the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, UK. She is a co-editor of Routledge’s triannual journal Caucasus Survey and a member of the National Advisory Board of Europe-Asia Studies. She is also the author of Russia and Islam: A Historical Survey (2002), Muslims of Central Asia: An Introduction (2019) and the editor of Islam in Post-Soviet Russia: Public and Private Faces (2003, Routledge) and Radical Islam in the Former Soviet Union (2010, Routledge).
Laurence Broers is Caucasus Programme Director at Conciliation Resources, UK. He is the author of Armenia and Azerbaijan: Anatomy of a Rivalry (2019), and the co-founder and co-chief editor of the Caucasus Survey. He is also the co-editor of Armenia's Velvet Revolution: Authoritarian Decline and Civil Resistance in a Multipolar World (forthcoming in 2020). He is a Research Associate at the Centre of Contemporary Central Asia & the Caucasus at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, UK, and an Associate Fellow at the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Royal Institute for International Affairs at Chatham House.
The book is a real tour de force, covering considerable ground while making only minor trade-offs in its selection of issues. Its 27 articles, written by some of the best-known names in the field, are overwhelmingly of great academic value. It is also to be commended that a genuine effort was made to include contributions from authors from the Caucasus.
- Vassily A. Klimentov, European University Institute, Italy. Europe-Asia Studies, 74:3
This is an impressive book, all 427 pages and 27 chapters of it, and the title does not give it justice. It is more than a handbook: it is a comprehensive survey of the politics, history and culture of the Caucasus (south and north) from the early Christian era to Armenia’s Velvet Revolution in 2018. The contributors include some of the top experts on Caucasian history and politics, from the region (which gives us special insight into the often impenetrable world of North Caucasian politics) as well as from Europe, Russia and the US. [...] The contributors were well chosen, and many of the authors have dedicated a good amount of time to original research. The book is well edited and readable.
- Stephen Jones, Mount Holyoke College, USA. Caucasus Survey.
