Assessing Foreign Fighters from the Caucasus Region in Syria and Iraq

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This thesis examines Caucasian volunteers who participated in conflicts after 2011. Official estimates indicate that several thousand residents from the Caucasus - nominally called 'Russian-speaking' volunteers - participated in various groups involved in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq. Although existing academic work illustrates that 'Russian-speaking' volunteers made a substantial contribution to the conflict dynamics, empirical data on foreign fighters - including the various sub-groups (Lezgin, Kist, Avar) and different language communities (Azeri, Georgian) labelled Russian-speaking - is limited. An essential element of much work on the area studies pathway is specialist language overseas ethnographic work, enabling the researcher to build trust, collect data, and conduct interviews with marginalised communities that have experienced mobilisation. At the same time, research on mobilisation and high-risk activism, particularly in violent social movements, remains neglected in much of the theoretical literature. This doctoral research will address this research puzzle and gap in the literature and develop a methodologically robust body of empirical data collected during overseas fieldwork. The study involves data collection in different language formats (Turkish, Arabic, and Russian), including specialist local languages (Azeri, Georgian, Circassian). Interviews with conflict veterans, their family members, spiritual leaders, academic experts, officials, and journalists, numbering approximately 40-60 respondents, are necessary. However, because data collection for the doctorate involves working with at-risk communities and using a variety of local languages, overseas fieldwork in Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, where these communities are based, is essential. In sum, the doctorate will analyse an often neglected but substantial community of interest, create a new empirical data set, and make significant theoretical and methodological contributions to research on the emerging, interdisciplinary body of work on violent social movements.