Individual Disengagement in Chechnya and Dagestan

Abstract

The main purpose of this chapter is to present empirical findings of the study. A rigorous analysis of interviews with former militants belonging to three main categories — avengers, nationalists, and jihadists — as well as with the their relatives and close friends and experts, is organized in this chapter along the main research themes of the study. Adherence to ideology and resilience to external and internal pressures are examined along with the impact of the use of violence and hidden identities, as well as the role of social bonds and group membership in shaping the militants’ decisions to stick to violence or abandon it.