Radikalisierung und gewaltsame Konflikte im Nordkaukasus: Eine Faktorenanalyse

Radikalisierung steht in einem engen Zusammenhang mit Mobilisierung und Sozialisierung. Im Nordkaukasus begünstigen folgende Faktorengruppen der modernen Sozialisation und Mobilisierung eine Radikalisierung: 1) kulturelle und geographische Faktoren; 2) das historische Erbe und verschleppte Kränkungen; 3) ein drastischer Wandel der politischen Institutionen; 4) intensive Informationsflüsse; 5) mangelhafte Beziehungen zwischen Staat und Gemeinschaft; 6) das Entstehen neuer Sozialisierungsräume für junge Menschen. Es bestehen große regionale Unterschiede bei der Mobilisierungsaktivität und dem Einsatz von Gewalt. Sie reichen von unterdrückter Mobilisierung in Tschetschenien bei hohem Gewaltniveau bis zu sehr starker Mobilisierung bei einem relativ niedrigen Niveau der Gewalt in Karatschai-Tscherkessien. Zu den allgemein im Nordkaukasus bestehenden Voraussetzungen für eine Radikalisierung gehören die ungünstigen Bedingungen für die Sozialisierung junger Menschen und für deren Integration in das Geflecht gesellschaftlicher und wirtschaftlicher Beziehungen sowie das fehlende Vertrauen in die Sicherheits- und Justizbehörden

Pilgrimage as a Field of Tourism Development: the Case of Kavala (Northern Greece) and Its Institutional and Cultural Challenges

Developing pilgrimage tourism requires a set of unique attractors, as well as efficient destination governance structures that manage such attractors and balance stakeholder interests. This study analyses the development of pilgrimage tourism in Kavala (Northern Greece), a city with unique religious and cultural attractors connected to the Apostle Paul. By deploying a mix of literature review, on-site analysis and interviews with twelve local stakeholders, this paper first examines the general potential for pilgrimage tourism in the region and gives recommendations for its development. Subsequently, the study evaluates the progress of pilgrimage tourism development in Kavala after one year. The findings suggest that Kavala’s religious and cultural attractors are optimal prerequisites for the development of pilgrimage tourism. However, our research also reveals and discusses cultural and institutional constraints within the stakeholder network that hinder the destination development. We conclude by outlining a path to developing pilgrimage tourism in Kavala which could serve as a blueprint for similar destinations. Overall, our findings illustrate a call for a critical revision to established destination management literature and highlight the need to consider the cultural ramifications of local stakeholder networks when discussing tourism development

La Montología Global 4D: Hacia las Ciencias Convergentes y Transdisciplinarias de Montaña a través del Tiempo y el Espacio

With mountain studies we use integrative approaches for geoliteracy about productive socioecological landscapes, and motivate further transdisciplinary research in montology. We conceived this white paper as a confluence of individual expertise and collective reasoning towards forming synergistic research clusters dealing with convergent mountain science, to advance montology to a new level, whereby innovative thinking about sustainability science and regenerative development incorporates alternative propositions for maintenance, improvement, or regeneration of living conditions of mountainscapes. We seek to use this contemporary framing of sustainability and ecological restoration as the impetus to better understand nature-culture relations, framed on lived-in mountains that operate in four dimensions (length, width, depth, and time) oriented at maximizing the cross-cutting of themes around mountains as productive socioecological systems, in a new academic institutionalized convergent unit. We conclude with a call for consilient, sustainable, regenerative development in the world’s mountains.La utilización de los estudios de montaña requiere de narrativas integradoras para la geoalfabetización sobre paisajes socioecológicos productivos y motiva más investigaciones transdisciplinares en el campo de la montología. Concebimos este artículo como la confluencia de la experiencia individual y el razonamiento colectivo hacia la formación de grupos de investigación sinérgicos que se ocupan de la ciencia de montaña convergente, para hacer avanzar la montología a un nuevo nivel, mediante el cual el pensamiento innovador sobre la ciencia de la sustentabilidad y el desarrollo regenerativo incorpora propuestas alternativas para el mantenimiento, la mejora, o regeneración de las condiciones de vida de los paisajes de montaña. Buscamos utilizar este marco contemporáneo de sustentabilidad y restauración ecológica como el ímpetu para comprender mejor las relaciones de la naturaleza y la cultura, desde una perspectiva transdisciplinar, en montañas habitadas que operan en cuatro dimensiones (largo, ancho, alto y tiempo). El artículo está orientado a potenciar la transversalidad de temáticas en torno a las montañas como sistemas socioecológicos productivos, en una nueva disciplina académica institucionalizada y convergente. Concluimos con un llamado a un desarrollo regenerativo, sustentable y consiliente en las montañas del mundo

Land Reforms in Post-Socialist Mountain Regions and their Impact on Land Use Management: a Case Study from the Caucasus

The land reforms of the 1990s in the former Soviet republics led to the elimination of the state’s monopoly on the ownership of land, a revival in local communities and a rise in business activity. The consequences of these reforms include the almost total disappearance of collective farms and the emergence of the private ownership of land. In the 1990s, the state delegated political power, including the disposability of land, to local authorities. However, these changes in political power varied significantly from region to region. This article aims to explain the various institutional environments that have developed at the local level in reaction to land reforms. Our investigation of 18 key villages in the North Caucasus republics of Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan show that land reforms have galvanised multiple actors representing the state, as well as collectives, individuals and various formal and informal institutions that regulate relations between these actors. Along with the political factors – such as the level of centralisation and economic liberalisation – that have led to differences in the pace of land reforms, local natural and cultural conditions and communities play an important role. The latter are characterised either by conservatism or by readiness for reforms. Regarding the key villages, five different types were identified: 1) villages where most of the land has been redistributed among private owners (Karachay-Cherkessia); 2) villages that have preserved collective use (some settlements in the North Caucasus with mainly Russian population); 3) villages where access to land is regulated by the state (Chechnya); 4) villages where access to land is regulated by municipal bureaucracy at the district level (many other regions in the North Caucasus); and 5) villages where the right of access to land is in dispute between the government and the business and local communities (e.g. villages in the tourist areas of the North Caucasus)

Les réformes foncières dans les régions de montagnes post-socialistes et leur impact sur l’aménagement du territoire – une étude de cas dans le Caucase

The land reforms of the 1990s in the former Soviet republics led to the elimination of the state’s monopoly on the ownership of land, a revival in local communities and a rise in business activity. The consequences of these reforms include the almost total disappearance of collective farms and the emergence of the private ownership of land. In the 1990s, the state delegated political power, including the disposability of land, to local authorities. However, these changes in political power varied significantly from region to region. This article aims to explain the various institutional environments that have developed at the local level in reaction to land reforms. Our investigation of 18 key villages in the North Caucasus republics of Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan show that land reforms have galvanised multiple actors representing the state, as well as collectives, individuals and various formal and informal institutions that regulate relations between these actors. Along with the political factors – such as the level of centralisation and economic liberalisation – that have led to differences in the pace of land reforms, local natural and cultural conditions and communities play an important role. The latter are characterised either by conservatism or by readiness for reforms. Regarding the key villages, five different types were identified: 1) villages where most of the land has been redistributed among private owners (Karachay-Cherkessia); 2) villages that have preserved collective use (some settlements in the North Caucasus with mainly Russian population); 3) villages where access to land is regulated by the state (Chechnya); 4) villages where access to land is regulated by municipal bureaucracy at the district level (many other regions in the North Caucasus); and 5) villages where the right of access to land is in dispute between the government and the business and local communities (e.g. villages in the tourist areas of the North Caucasus)

Land Reforms in Post-Socialist Mountain Regions and their Impact on Land Use Management: a Case Study from the Caucasus

The land reforms of the 1990s in the former Soviet republics led to the elimination of the state’s monopoly on the ownership of land, a revival in local communities and a rise in business activity. The consequences of these reforms include the almost total disappearance of collective farms and the emergence of the private ownership of land. In the 1990s, the state delegated political power, including the disposability of land, to local authorities. However, these changes in political power varied significantly from region to region. This article aims to explain the various institutional environments that have developed at the local level in reaction to land reforms. Our investigation of 18 key villages in the North Caucasus republics of Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan show that land reforms have galvanised multiple actors representing the state, as well as collectives, individuals and various formal and informal institutions that regulate relations between these actors. Along with the political factors – such as the level of centralisation and economic liberalisation – that have led to differences in the pace of land reforms, local natural and cultural conditions and communities play an important role. The latter are characterised either by conservatism or by readiness for reforms. Regarding the key villages, five different types were identified: 1) villages where most of the land has been redistributed among private owners (Karachay-Cherkessia); 2) villages that have preserved collective use (some settlements in the North Caucasus with mainly Russian population); 3) villages where access to land is regulated by the state (Chechnya); 4) villages where access to land is regulated by municipal bureaucracy at the district level (many other regions in the North Caucasus); and 5) villages where the right of access to land is in dispute between the government and the business and local communities (e.g. villages in the tourist areas of the North Caucasus)