Making Jihad or Making Money? Understanding the Transformation of Dagestan's Jamaats into Organised Crime Groups
2018
Abstract
While terrorist and insurgent groups have often combined anti-state subversion with purely criminal activities in order to obtain the financial means to wage their ideological struggle, little is known about the transformation of such groups into non-ideological organised crime groups (OCG) with close links to authorities. This holds particularly for jihadist groups that have on ideological grounds ruled out collaboration with their archenemies - infidels' and apostates'.
Using unique ethnographic data from Russia's Dagestan, this article explores the causes and contexts of the gradual transformation of some of Dagestan's jihadist units - jamaats - into organised crime groups collaborating with local authorities.