handling of the Chechen issue. On September 26, 2001, on a visit to Germany, Putin
was promised by Schroeder that criticism would tone down and that there would be a
“differentiated evaluation” of the matter (Evangelista, 2002, p. 180). Russia used this
opportunity to convince the rest of the world of its shared values. For example, at a
meeting of the world economic leaders in February 2002, Russia’s Prime Minister
Mikhail Kasianov said “Russia understands better than any other nation what has
happened in America” (Cullison, 2002).
There are also different views of the conflict from the Chechen perspective. Though
a sense of national identity is shared, some, such as, the Chechen leader, Maskhadov,
fought for a moderate form of independence—with a peaceful break from Russia,
followed by cooperation with Moscow and other regional neighbors. On the other hand,
many Chechens believed in a harsh break from Russia, and the construction of an Islamic
state “encompassing Chechnya and Dagestan and perhaps other Muslim peoples of the
North Caucasus” (Evangelista, 2002, p. 50). However, all the nationalist visions of
Chechnya rested upon a shared and dominant history of injustice at the hands of the
Russian government, dating from Stalin’s regime. Nationalist sentiments have risen from
the continued fight with Russia: “The deportations failed to break Chechen resistance
and instead contributed to an abiding attachment to the homeland and a smoldering sense
of grievances” (Evangelista, 2002, p. 13).
This conflict is likely to continue. Given the role of Russia as ally in the War on
Terror, producer of oil and natural gas, and influential power in Central Asia and Trans-
Caucus region, Chechnya will be a part of the geopolitical calculations of Russia and
other countries. Perhaps, as Politkovskaya (2003, p. 29) notes, the tendency will be to
ignore the conflict: “Everywhere they invite me to make a speech about ‘the situation
in Chechnya,’ but there are zero results. Only polite Western applause in response to
the words: ‘Remember, people are continuing to die in Chechnya every day. Including
today.’ ”
The case study of Chechnya illustrates the tenets of nationalism, where individual
and group identity is linked to sovereignty over a particular piece of territory. The nation-
alist claim is based upon a history that includes injustices, and so promoting the “need”
for a protective nation-state. But the geopolitics of nationalism gives rise to conflicts
within national politics, as is evident in the broad party support for Russia’s policy
compared to the disaffection of soldiers and their families. Noting the role of families
in nationalism requires us to pay careful attention to the role of gender in nationalist
politics.
Gender, nationalism, and geopolitical codes
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