Factors Affecting the Russian Government's Policy towards Russian Islamic Currents

The subject of the current research is to investigate the factors affecting the policy of the Russian government towards Islamic trends in Russia as a group of important minorities in this country between 1991 and 2011. One of the basic issues in multi-ethnic and multicultural societies such as Russia is the method of government policy and its management in dealing with ethnic groups and the culture of minorities. Political management in multicultural countries requires its own abilities, often each country uses its own unique policies and it may be challenging to write a single version for all countries. On the other hand, various political, social, historical, economic, etc. causes lead them to the political methods that govern them. The multicultural social structure among Western liberal democracies has somehow led to policies that increase the government's capacity to deal effectively and efficiently with ethnic and cultural pluralism within its sovereign borders. However, it is essential to note that policy-making in non-democratic systems such as Russia, which have a multicultural social structure and authoritarian political structure, has been different from the policies of democratic societies. 

Why has the Russian government's policy towards the Islamic currents in this country fluctuated between control, confrontation, and interaction?Research Hypothesis: It is hypothesized that the central government of Russia's policy toward Islamic currents due to some internal factors such as the nature of the hybrid authoritarian political system as well as some external factors such as the developments in the Islamic world and the emergence of groups including Taliban, al-Qaeda and ISIS and its security effects on countries such as Russia, which have significant Muslim populations, have fluctuated mainly in the form of control, confrontation, and interaction.

The method of this research is qualitative with a descriptive-analytical approach, and as test theory research, the description in this research is done using models and theories. The analysis uses the model called "Instrumental multiculturalism in hybrid authoritarian regimes." In this model, multiculturalism in a state that possesses both authoritarian and democratic elements is often instrumental and does not necessarily inherent in the acceptance of this concept and is used as a tool in the hands of the government to maintain cohesion and survival. In hybrid authoritarian regimes that are multicultural, they use multiculturalism as a tool to achieve their various goals. This means that, on the one hand, accepting the multicultural nature of society recognizes the rights of minorities and allows them to operate in the political and social spheres.On the other hand, relying on its authoritarian nature, it demands the complete loyalty of these groups. In this model, governments do not always adhere to the main features of multiculturalism, such as equality, social justice, self-government and minority rights and other liberal aspects of this theory. They remain within the core components of the concept of multiculturalism only as long as the interests, security, and survival of states are not threatened. Suppose that minorities deviate from the circuit of loyalty to the state. In that case, the authoritarian nature of the state is manifested and some policies of confrontation, exclusion and marginalization or strict control and supervision of the granted democracy emerge. In explaining this model, it should be said that the concept of multiculturalism with ethnic and cultural diversity in a single political society has been accepted as a reality both in terms of positive effects and despite some security threats.The process of this research was such that the theories of multiculturalism and authoritarianism were studied with a comparative approach, and their main and most prominent features were identified. Then, the components and assumptions of multiculturalism and authoritarianism in Russia were examined and the data obtained from this study led to the formation of the model "instrumental multiculturalism in hybrid authoritarian regimes". Based on this, the article was analyzed about the fluctuations of the government's policy towards Islamic movements.

Russia's hybrid authoritarian political system is a context that intentionally or unintentionally creates an atmosphere of control or instrumentalism of authoritarian or democratic elements in domestic and foreign politics. In other words, the government does not follow a single policy toward different Islamic currents. Instead, various policies based on interaction and tolerance are proposed in line with the interactive policies of the government and what is referred to as the right of self-government and the policies of control or confrontation. In addition, by adopting three parallel policies, the Russian government has pursued the policy of recognizing Islamic currents as the dominant intellectual current of a significant group of Muslims in this country.

The findings of the research show that firstly, the government's policies towards Islamic currents have both internal and external dimensions. Secondly, the government does not follow a single policy towards the Tatar and North Caucasus Islamic currents. Based on what the model of "instrumental multiculturalism in hybrid authoritarian regimes" showed, the government's policy towards the Tatar movement is based on interaction and tolerance, and in this regard, it follows the model of recognizing cultural differences. On the other hand, although the North Caucasus movement was able to gain independent power in the administration of internal and especially military affairs compared to the Tatar movement, it is witnessing more controlling or confrontational policies of the central government. By conducting a study based on the mentioned model, it was concluded that the first policy of the Russian government is interaction and tolerance with Islamic currents. Parallel to that, the policy of confrontation and strong control over radical and independence-seeking currents and the third policy is political participation and instrumental use of Islamic currents.