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5 Int'l Crim. L. Rev. 485 (2005)
Post-Modern War, Genocide and Chechnya: The Case of Female Suicide Attacks as a Problem for International Law and International Relations Theory

handle is hein.journals/intcrimlrb5 and id is 493 raw text is: International Criminal Law Review 5: 485-500, 2005. 485 © 2005 Koninklijke Brill NV Printed in the Netherlands. Post-Modern War, Genocide and Chechnya: The Case of Female Suicide Attacks as a Problem for International Law and International Relations theory CERWYN MOORE Nottingham Trent University The aim of this paper is to explore the ongoing violence in Chechnya allow- ing a more detailed analysis of the issue of genocide and human rights. Although recent attempts have been made to identify the changing patterns of international violence in both International Relations (IR) theory and related disciplines (sociology; law; political science and genocide studies) little research has been undertaken to understand the violence in Chechnya. Indeed, the case of Chechnya, and more specifically the second Chechen War, has been largely ignored due, in part, to the changing nature of post- 9/11 international relations. Nonetheless, the case of Chechnya presents the- oreticians and policy-makers in the fields of IR and international law with a set of intriguing questions. Has genocide taken place in Chechnya? How do the two conflicts signal a change in international violence and were different groups targeted because of their ethnic or religious beliefs? This paper will assess how the different sites of violence (ethnic; inter-ethnic; inter-clan) may be used to locate and interpret the interweaving forces which combine to create the conditions for the use of extreme violence against particular eth- nic groups. In so doing, the paper sets out a number of interventions in the debate on international violence, Human Rights and the interpretation of genocide. These interventions include personal readings of war through lit- erature and myth as well as consideration of the issue of the female suicide bombers. Finally it is useful to note that throughout the paper I will draw on my recent British Academy research visit to both Moscow and the Caucasus'. It is also important to note at the outset that much of this work results from engagements with a number of graduate students. In particular, a debt of gratitude is owed to one graduate stu- dent, Alex Talbot, whose MA dissertation I helped to supervise. His dissertation (2004) entitled Deconstructing the Caucasus explores the tension between critical and traditional approaches to violence in relation to Chechnya and is drawn upon throughout this paper. I would also like to thank the organisers of the Current Issues in the Law of Genocide conference and in particu- lar Paul Kim, the International and Comparative Criminal Trial Project team, the anonymous reviewers and Alison Waller for all their help writing and reviewing this article.

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