Mobilisation of foreign fighters in the former Soviet Union

外国战斗人员是选择参加在其居住国以外发生的武装冲突的个人。基地组织和伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯兰国（ISIL）等激进伊斯兰组织的崛起，导致成千上万的志愿者从欧洲和亚洲前往中东加入各种武装团体，大大增强了这些激进极端主义组织的力量和韧性。虽然一些外国战斗人员，如英国圣战分子Jihadi John在社交媒体上臭名昭着，但更多的人仍然处于阴影中，为武装团体提供人力和物力资源，以及对伊斯兰国等残酷的激进组织取得成功至关重要的专业知识。在过去十年中，后苏联地区一直是中东和整个前苏联武装冲突的外国战斗人员的主要供应商。包括俄罗斯联邦、高加索和中亚地区在内的前苏联向中东提供的外国战斗人员比世界上任何其他地区，包括中东本身都多。虽然在前苏联的背景下对外国战斗人员进行的研究很少，但现有的学术著作呼应了大众媒体的声明和国际组织的报告，即后苏联的外国战斗人员被认为主要是由宗教和政治动机驱动的。这些指控大多数是根据对二手资料来源的分析和对冲突证人的随机访谈提出的。没有进行过全面的实地考察项目，以了解社会文化传统，感知到的镇压和机会对前苏联的外国战士动员有什么影响。多年的初步探索性研究和一些较小的试点项目使研究小组相信，后苏联的外国战士动员不一定是由于宗教热情或政治意识形态，而是由于社会文化和以观念为中心的原因的复杂结合。动员的机会，或缺乏动员的机会，也成为个人动员背后的重要原因。在我们的初步研究中，荣誉、团结、义务和文化上根深蒂固的习惯法的概念，加上本国的族裔和宗教迫害，成为个人选择参加国外武装冲突的重要因素。为了提供一个明确的答案，哪些因素可以解释在后苏联地区的外国战士动员率高，我们建议发展一种理论，将寻求证明，个人选择成为外国战士不一定是由于他们的宗教或政治观点，但也由于社会文化传统，他们的迫害和机会的看法脱离武装团体。为了验证这一理论，我们将在乌克兰，俄罗斯的达吉斯坦共和国和西欧（奥地利，丹麦和德国）的车臣侨民中进行基于原始访谈的实地调查。为了更好地了解外国战斗人员动员的过程及其背后的原因，我们将对选择成为外国战斗人员的个人进行广泛抽样，以记录他们的意见和经历。这一原创性和跨学科的研究项目将是有史以来第一次以实地考察为基础的研究前苏联外国战斗人员的努力。将采用跨学科方法相结合的创新研究方法，对被调查者进行访谈。考虑到项目数据可以提供信息并改善目前对激进化原因的理解，项目结果将对欧洲，中东和亚洲的去激进化，冲突降级和国家安全产生重大影响。

Foreign fighters are individuals who choose to participate in armed conflicts occurring outside their countries of residence. The rise of radical Islamist organisations, such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), has led to thousands of volunteers travelling to the Middle East from Europe and Asia to join various armed groups, significantly contributing to the strength and resilience of these radical extremist organisations. While some foreign fighters, such as British jihadist Jihadi John became notorious on social media, many more remained in the shadows supplying armed groups with human and material resources, as well as the expertise crucial for the success of such brutal militant organisations as ISIL. Over the last decade, the post-Soviet region has served as a key supplier of foreign fighters for armed conflicts in the Middle East and across the former Soviet Union. The former Soviet Union, which includes Russian Federation, the Caucasus and Central Asian regions, supplied more foreign fighters to the Middle East than any other region of the world, including the Middle East itself. Although there has been little research done on foreign fighters in the context of the former Soviet Union, existing scholarly works echo mass media statements and the reports by international organisations in that post-Soviet foreign fighters are viewed as primarily driven by religious and political motivations. Most of these claims are based on the analysis of secondary sources and random interviews with conflict witnesses. No comprehensive fieldwork-based projects were ever conducted to understand what effect do sociocultural traditions, perceived repressions and opportunities have on foreign fighter mobilisation in the former Soviet Union.Years of preliminary exploratory research and a number of smaller pilot projects have led the research team to believe that post-Soviet foreign fighters mobilise not necessarily due to religious fervour or political ideology, but due to a complex combination of sociocultural and perception-centred causes. Opportunities to mobilise, or the lack thereof, also emerge as significant causes behind individual mobilisation. During our preliminary research, notions of honour, solidarity, obligation and culturally embedded customary laws, combined with ethnic and religious persecution in home countries, emerge as instrumental in individuals' choices to participate in armed conflicts abroad. In order to provide a definitive answer as to which factors can account for the high rates of foreign fighter mobilisation in the post-Soviet region, we propose developing a theory which will seek to demonstrate that individuals choose to become foreign fighters not necessarily due to their religion or political views, but also owing to sociocultural traditions, their perceptions of persecution and opportunities available to disengage from armed groups. To test that theory we will conduct original interview-based fieldwork amongst active, former, and aspiring foreign fighters in Ukraine, Russia's republic of Dagestan and amongst Chechen Diaspora in Western Europe (Austria, Denmark and Germany). To better understand the process of foreign fighter mobilisation and reasons behind it, we will sample widely individuals who chose to become foreign fighters in order to record their opinions and experiences. This original and interdisciplinary research project will be the first ever fieldwork-based effort to study foreign fighters in the former Soviet Union. Innovative research methods combining interdisciplinary approaches will be used to carry out interviews with informants. Bearing in mind that project data can inform and improve the current understanding of radicalisation causes, the project findings will have major implications for de-radicalisation, conflict de-escalation and national security across Europe, Middle East and Asia.