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、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组织，极大地增强了这些激进极端组织的实力和韧性。尽管英国圣战分子“圣战约翰”（Jihadi John）等一些外国武装分子在社交媒体上声名狼藉，但仍有更多的外国武装分子在暗中为武装组织提供人力和物力资源，以及对ISIL等野蛮武装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前苏联武装冲突中外国战斗人员的主要供应地。包括俄罗斯联邦、高加索地区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都多，包括中东本身。尽管对前苏联背景下的外国战斗人员的研究很少，但现有的学术著作与大众媒体的声明和国际组织的报告相呼应，认为后苏联时期的外国战斗人员主要是受宗教和政治动机的驱使。这些说法大多是基于对二手资料的分析和对冲突目击者的随机采访。从来没有进行过以实地工作为基础的综合项目，以了解社会文化传统、感知到的压迫和机会对前苏联境内的外国战斗人员动员有什么影响。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，后苏联外国战士的动员不一定是由于宗教狂热或政治意识形态，而是由于社会文化和以感知为中心的原因的复杂组合。动员机会或缺乏动员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，加上母国的种族和宗教迫害，在个人选择参加国外武装冲突方面发挥了重要作用。为了提供一个明确的答案，哪些因素可以解释后苏联地区外国战士的高动员率，我们建议发展一种理论，试图证明个人选择成为外国战士并不一定是因为他们的宗教或政治观点，还因为社会文化传统，他们对迫害的看法以及脱离武装团体的机会。为了验证这一理论，我们将在乌克兰、俄罗斯达吉斯坦共和国和西欧（奥地利、丹麦和德国）的车臣侨民中，对活跃的、前的和有抱负的外国战斗人员进行原始的基于访谈的实地调查。为了更好地了解外籍战士动员的过程及其背后的原因，我们将广泛抽样选择成为外籍战士的个人，以记录他们的意见和经验。这个原创的跨学科研究项目将是第一个以实地工作为基础的研究前苏联外国战斗人员的项目。将采用结合跨学科方法的创新研究方法对举报人进行访谈。考虑到项目数据可以为当前对激进化原因的理解提供信息和改进，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.