The Myth of Post-Soviet Muslim Radicalization in the Central Asian Republics

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Russia and Eurasia Programme, November 2014., Р.20 Research Paper John Heathershaw and David W. Montgomery Russia and Eurasia Programme November 2014 The Myth of Post-Soviet Muslim Radicalization in the Central Asian Republics. Analysts of political Islam in the West are frequently caught between the accusation of ‘Islamophobia’ and the risk of denying the reality of violence committed ‘in the name of Allah’. In this paper, we take a step back from this unhelpful framing to consider the validity of underlying claims made about the threat of political Islam in Central Asia. The paper considers the validity of claims commonly made about the impact of Islamic revival and ‘radicalization’ on security in post- Soviet Central Asia, and argues that claims about general Muslim radicalization constitute a myth which is fostered by security analysts and commentators with little basis in fact. It takes issue with the attempt to link particular examples of violent extremism with non-violent political Islam as part of a trend of post-Soviet Muslim radicalization. It does so by identifying and interrogating six claims about radicalization which are taken as axiomatic in the media and policy communities of Western and Eastern states. These claims are widely shared across national and international security discourse about Central Asian Islam.