Why does Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic, promote customary law and Sharia while undermining Russian state law? How does the legacy of prolonged secessionist conflict influence the political use of tradition and religion in the region? Egor Lazarev’s presentation will argue that government promotion of customary law and Sharia in Chechnya reflects a strategy of establishing informal political control. First, this policy allows the government to borrow legitimacy from tradition and religion. Second, it follows the logic of coalition-building by incorporating traditional authorities and ideological supporters of non-state legal orders (notably, rebels) into the ruling coalition. Third, it increases the autonomy of regional authorities from the Kremlin and thus serves as a tool of boundary-control. Ultimately, the presentation will argue that the persistence of legal pluralism in Chechnya is not an indicator of weak state capacity or cultural backwardness, but an arena for political actors to pursue their interests.
