24.01.2025

DPI study reveals link between Islamist and ethnonationalist ideas

‘Morality police’ activities in the Chechen community refer to the customary law Adat in addition to Sharia.

The Documentation Centre Political Islam (DPI) has published a study on the Chechen diaspora in cooperation with the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). The publication, entitled ‘Jihadism and “moral guardians” in Europe's Chechen community’, is based on interviews conducted in Vienna, among other places, and offers insights into Chechen society and history as well as a current analysis of the diaspora communities. Socio-cultural, ethno-nationalist and religious attitudes, in which the causes of radicalisation are often located, were surveyed. ‘International research collaborations such as those with the DGAP are important for the documentation centre, as they make it possible to adequately analyse transnational structures that extend beyond Austria. With a focus on traditional family structures, customary law and religion, the study has included areas that play an important role in Chechen communities in the diaspora,’ says Lisa Fellhofer, Director of the Documentation Centre Political Islam.

According to estimates, Austria is home to one of the largest Chechen communities in Europe, which are united by a collective trauma. Among them, the proportion of those who wanted to join jihadist groups in Syria or actually travelled to the territory of the Islamic State (IS) was particularly high. Polarisation due to ongoing political conflicts in the Chechen diaspora makes young adults in particular susceptible to the propaganda of Islamist groups, which play a leading role in the Chechen resistance. In addition to the fight against Russia, one of the most important motives for leaving for Syria was the opportunity to join the global Muslim community (Ummah) and join a ‘greater cause’.

‘Morality police’ and patriarchal structures

Time and again, ‘morality police’ make the headlines when young men from Chechen backgrounds want to implement Islamic law (Sharia) according to their own strict interpretation. However, as the analysis shows, the young people also refer strongly to the Chechen customary law Adat, which is influenced by pre-Islamic traditions and has a strict patriarchal orientation. The ‘morality police’ focus primarily on the behaviour of girls and women from their own community, in an attempt to prevent their right to self-determination. They are particularly opposed to ‘Western’ forms of behaviour and want to preserve the ‘Chechen bloodline’. According to the results of the study, one of the main motives is to prevent relationships and marriages between Chechen women and men from outside the community. The ‘morality police’ organise their activities via relatively informal, non-hierarchical, decentralised online chat groups. As the study shows, the main reasons for this development are a lack of prospects among young people and their ethnonationalist attitude in combination with the instrumentalisation of religion as an ‘ideology of resistance’.  

Jihadismus und „Sittenwächter“ in Europas tschetschenischer Diaspora

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