Resolving ethno-social conflicts in the North Caucasus: pathway to peace and integration

Abstract

The goal of the research is to analyze the mechanisms and methods for resolving ethno-social conflictsin the North Caucasus. The researchers conclude that a theoretical synthesis of conflictological paradigm and neofunctionalism is essential. The conflict resolution theory focuses its attention on the capacity of social integration to transform the destructive conflicts. The researchers consider the structural factors of ethno-social conflicts and emphasizes the destabilizing role of ethnicity politicization. As the conditions of growth for the ethnic tension in the North Caucasus and its transformation into destructive conflicts, the researchers single out the socialinequalities, civic identity crisis and ethnic mobilization. The mainfactor of regional ethno-social conflicts is the controversy between systemic modernization and social disintegration. Conflict resolution in the North Caucasus has to be built on the principles of civic solidarity and social integration but not on the assimilation policy and suppression of ethnicities