Between Terror and Tolerance: Religious Leaders, Conflict, and Peacemaking

CHAPTER 9 Religion, War, and Peace in Tajikistan

169 ChapTEr 9 Religion, War, and Peace in Tajikistan l kariNa koroSTELiNa Social identities do not arise as a result of conflict between groups, but they do have the potential to become more salient and evolve into mobilized form. They do not cause or initiate conflict, but they become a powerful tool of social mobilization provoked by leaders.As David Little argues in chapter 1 of this book, social identity becomes a tool for the groups “claiming the ‘right to rule’ within a given territory based upon competing conceptions of nationhood.”Thus, social identities should be understood neither as sources nor as consequences of conflict but instead as a form of consciousness that entirely changes the dynamics and structures of conflict. Once social identity becomes involved in interest-based or instrumental conflict, then it changes the nature of political or economic conflict in particular ways, making conflict protracted. Because religious identity is one of the most important and salient of social identities, it is invariably a critical factor in the dynamics of violence. The moral and sacred dimensions of religion can facilitate an even more profound transformation of interest-based conflicts into acts of extreme violence but can also make reconciliation more possible.The “Four-C” model of the dynamics of identity conflicts illustrates the specific role of religious identity in the dynamic of conflict and formation of violent behavior (Korostelina 2007a). This model includes four stages: comparison, competition, confrontation, and counteraction. The Four-C model of identity-based conflict provides a basis for the systemic analysis of the role of religious identity in conflict dynamics. Religious groups living in multicultural communities develop intergroup stereotypes and biases. These biases can be formed through historical experience and are the result of biased comparisons, prejudice, and attribution errors. In situations of competition for power or resources, group leaders use these stereotypes and beliefs as kariNa koroSTeLiNa 170 well as loyalties to a religious group as a tool of group mobilization. Perceived external threats, especially when there is a lack or manipulation of information, strengthens these feelings of insecurity among in-group members. The religious identity becomes more salient and mobilized, and finally dominant, influencing the development of the dual “positive we/negative they” perception and specific collective axiology. Because of the strong moral dimension of religious identity, an out-group is easily devalued, dehumanized, and turned into a homogenous evil. It becomes moral and honorable to take actions against the other group and totally destroy it. These actions are in turn perceived by the out-group as threatening, resulting in the development of counteractions and causing a new turn in the spiral of conflict and violence.To resolve such religious conflict, it is important to address each of the stages reversibly, beginning from the last stage of moral perception and evaluation. ThE CiviL War iN TaJikiSTaN The example of Tajikistan shows how in Little’s continuum shown in figure 1 (this volume), illiberal nationalism was reflected in a high degree of Soviet intolerance toward religion combined with authoritarian regime, develop a foundation for a high violence potential score. Tajikistan, one of five countries in Central Asia, lies between Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyz Republic, and Uzbekistan. Before the twentieth century, diverse communities lived interdependently in this region and shared a common Turko-Persian Islamic culture. Two major regional powers existed here: the emirate of Bukhara in the west and the Khanate of Kokand in the Ferghana Valley. By the end of the nineteenth century Tajikistan became part of the growing Russian empire and the emirate of Bukhara retained nominal autonomy over its central and southern zones. In 1924–25, based on a “National Delimitation” plan (natsional’no-gosudarstvennoe razmezhevanie), Soviet authorities created five “national” republics, each given a national language and national symbols. This process was impeded by the Basmachi Rebellion, which sought to restore the Bukharan emirate.The fighting between Red Army and Basmachi was brutal and violent: more than ten thousand Tajiks and Uzbeks were killed, and many people fled to Afghanistan. After the fall of the Soviet Union, these republics gained independence but were left with a legacy including political oppression, social disorder,economic security,and ecological catastrophe (Denison 2003).The countries’leaders faced the dilemma of either following the path of pan-Islamism or developing as secular states. Political elites accepted the second option and began to develop new national identities within the boundaries created by Soviet cartographers. Despitethepredictionsthatthequestforethnonationalidentitywouldincrease the salience of an ethnonational Tajik identity, strong regionalism impeded the...