全球智库信息集成服务系统

Religion's Role in Promoting Opposition to or Support for Governments Varied Substantially Based on the Local Context

• Religion has been used to increase social cohesion and support for the state within the population (e.g., Kazakhstan, Russia).
• Opposition groups and nonstate actors have also marshaled religion to mobilize supporters of their causes (e.g., in the North Caucasus).

Religion Has Sustained or Intensified Conflict in Some Parts of the FSU, but It Has Not Been the Original Source of Conflict

• Most conflicts have stemmed from territorial disputes, domestic and international power struggles, aspirations for self-determination, and economic challenges — not religious disagreements.
• Despite religion's secondary role, its use in the region's conflicts has frequently been destabilizing; the infusion of religion in grievances has exacerbated existing tensions and encumbered progress toward peace.
• Religious life is particularly susceptible to manipulation in FSU countries, which share the Soviet legacy of disrupted religious traditions and relatively weak religious knowledge, along with the growing demand for religiosity and the view of religion as the source of morality, identity, and certainty.

State Policies That Restrict or Regulate Religion Appear to Have Contributed to Stability or Conflict in Different Circumstances

• Relatively loose controls over religion led to concerns about foreign influences on state stability in Russia and Kyrgyzstan.
• In Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, religious restrictions have been maintained more consistently and appear to have helped uphold state control over society.
• These restrictions may also have damaging longer-term effects, leading to social and intellectual marginalization of independent Islam and cycles of radicalization.