Insurgency Success Factors and Rebel Legitimacy
leadership from political space and control of Russian priorities also signified a shift in Russian
perceptions of Chechnya as a legitimate political actor, to perceptions of the de facto government
as an illegitimate actor.
Russian elites present another interesting evaluation of legitimacy in Chechnya. By most
accounts, the initial independence bid received ample support from Russian academics and a
large portion of Russian politicians 80. Russian academics that favored Chechen independence
produced a substantial body of public writing and thought to justify independence. This writing
was largely organized around two areas of thought. The first, was the legal and ideological
authority of the Chechen peoples to establish a nation-state. There second, was a consideration of
the benefits of removing Chechnya, an ethnically diverse, predominantly Muslim population,
from a developing, ethnically Russian state.
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Support from Russian academics and select political elites contributed to awarding
legitimacy and fast forwarding the momentum of the movement in two key ways. First, the
ample body of writing produced by Russian elites in public, official political space allowed for a
conceptualization of the legitimacy of the Chechen separatist movement in official Russian
political space 82. The placement of such ideology allowed for substantive discussions on
Chechen independence to take place in official political arenas. Second, the power of elite
writers, and use of legal and nationalist rhetoric to justify the movement all contributed to
influencing positive perceptions of Chechen separatism as a legitimate and justified act amongst
state, elite, and civilian actors in both Russia and Chechnya. Polls in the early 1990's suggest
that Russian civilians were largely sympathetic to Chechen independence 83.
Both these factors opened avenues for Chechen independence to enter Russian political
space as a realistic avenue for advancement. The involvement of Russian elites also contributed
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