PREFACE

The chapters of this volume are the result of an international conference on strategies for restoring peace and stability in and around Chechnya and the possible participation of the international community in such a process. The purpose of the conference was to initiate a dialogue between Western and Russian scholars on the burning issue of the war in Chechnya. In the first part of the volume Russian strategy in Chechnya is discussed; the second part deals with the consequences of the war in Chechnya on the immediate neighbourhood; and the final part raises the question of how the international community may contribute to a solution. The authors include scholars from Russia, the USA and Europe.

The conference, which took place in April 2000 at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (SIIA), was organized by SIIA and the journal Central Asia and the Caucasus (Luleå).

Lena Jonson, Senior Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, Stockholm

Murad Esenov, Chief Editor of the journal Central Asia and the Caucasus (English and Russian editions).