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FELLOWS 2016


SASHA KLYACHKINA

Northwestern University

Bucerius Fieldwork Grant

Localized Order and State-Building: Responses to State Collapse in the North Caucasus
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SASHA KLYACHKINA

ABSTRACT
Sasha´s project asks: what causes variation in the emerging order across republics in the North Caucasus from 1991 to the present? The uncertainty following the collapse of the Soviet Union destabilized the Caucasus and sparked varied levels of mobilization and violence. Despite a common history, similar legal status, and similarities in socioeconomic conditions, the republics developed distinct patterns of order in response to the violence that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. This begs the questions, which constraints acted upon state elites during this critical juncture, and why, given the potential choices, did actors pursue the respective institutional configurations? This project will trace the development of local order in four cases: Chechnya (1991-1999), Chechnya (2003-present), Dagestan (1991-present), and Ingushetia (1991-present). 


BIOGRAPHY
Sasha Klyachkina is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at North-western University. Her research interest lies at the intersection of political violence, state-building, and institutional change, with a regional focus on the North Caucasus. She was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, but raised around Chicago. Sasha graduated summa cum laude from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio with honors in Political Science and International Studies. Prior to Northwestern, she spent two years teaching high school in Charlotte, North Carolina.


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