The Foreign Service Journal, April 2007

ditional Muslim groups have not dared to speak out against the authorities’ repressive measures. Part of the problem is the elimination of gubernatori- al elections. This has allowed Putin to replace respected local politicians — such as the former president of Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev, who had taken measures to ensure stability by balancing various local interests — with representatives of the security services who do not know the situation on the ground and corrupt cronies who are not interested in maintaining a balance among local interests. Widespread corruption and poverty in the region also have contributed to the popularity of radical Islam. Unemployment rates throughout the Caucasus hover around 50 percent, while wages are only two-thirds the Russian average. Areas with large numbers of Muslims rank at the bottom of Russia’s regions in terms of most measures of standards of living. What is more, much of the population has come to blame this poverty on the corruption of local government officials as well as local representatives of the federal government. Massive corruption has virtually eliminated outside investment in the region, and is in the process of destroying the region’s political institutions. The common view among the population is that pow- erful clans have monopolized the region’s political and eco- nomic resources, and that representatives of these clans exploit the local population, steal resources sent by the fed- eral government, and use their political power to repress anyone who tries to change the situation through political or legal channels. Since radical Islam promises that under Islamic rule theft and corruption will not be tolerated, many unemployed young men have turned to it as an alter- native to a hopeless existence. The Rise of Racism One factor leading toward the radicalization of Russia’s Muslims beyond the Caucasus is the prevalence of daily discrimination in most large Russian cities against anyone who does not look Slavic. Police, ostensibly on F O C U S A P R I L 2 0 0 7 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 45