The Insurgency in Chechnya and the North Caucasus: From Gazavat to Jihad (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780313386343)

For the first time, a military expert on both Russia and insurgency offers the definitive guide on activities in Southern Russia, explaining why the Russian approach to counter terrorism is failing and why terrorist and insurgent attacks in Russia have sharply increased over the past three years.

The Insurgency in Chechnya and the North Caucasus: From Gazavat to Jihad is an comprehensive treatment of this 300 year-old conflict. Thematically organized, it cuts through the rhetoric to provide a contextual framework with which readers can truly understand the "why" and "how" of one of the world's longest-running contemporary insurgencies, despite Russia's best efforts to eradicate it.

A fascinating case study of a counterinsurgency campaign that is in direct contravention of U.S. and Western strategy, the book also examines the differences and linkages between insurgency and terrorism; the origins of conflict in the North Caucasus; and the influences of different strains of Islam, of al-Qaida, and of the War on Terror. A critical examination of never-before-revealed Russian counterinsurgency (COIN) campaigns explains why those campaigns have consistently failed and why the region has seen such an upswing in violence since the conflict was officially declared "over" less than two years ago.

Author: Robert W. Schaefer
ISBN-10: 031338634X
ISBN-13: 9780313386343
Publisher: Praeger
Language: English
Published: 10/22/2010
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.45lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.20w x 1.30d
Award: Independent Publisher Book Awards - Bronze Medal Winner

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2011 pg. 1069
Kirkus Best Books 12/01/2011 pg. 5553
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2011 pg. 31