Justifying forceful resistance to ethnic separatism: the case of Russia versus Chechnya, 1994-96

Abstract:

This article examines how states try to mobilize mass and elite support for wars against ethnic separatists, and what factors affect their success in this effort, using the 1994-96 Russian-Chechen conflict as a case study. It argues that governments fighting ethnic separatists usually appeal to three sets of normative principles to garner support for this effort: democracy and rights, law and order, and territorial integrity and unity. After showing how the Yeltsin government relied on these principles in its campaign to justify the war, the article examines and explains the extent to which these appeals were successful.