An examination of the history of the Caucasus region, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Russian governance from the 18th century to the post-Soviet era.

In Land, Community, and the State in the Caucasus, Ian Lanzillotti traces the history of Kabardino-Balkaria from the extension of Russian rule in the late-18th century to the ethno-nationalist mobilizations of the post-Soviet era. As neighboring communities throughout the Caucasus mountain region descended into violence amidst the Soviet collapse, Russia’s multiethnic Kabardino-Balkar Republic enjoyed intercommunal peace despite tensions over land and identity. Lanzillotti explores why this region avoided violent ethnicized conflict by examining the historic relationships that developed around land tenure in the Central Caucasus and their enduring legacies. This study demonstrates how Kabardino-Balkaria formed out of the dynamic interactions among the state, the peoples of the region, and the space they inhabited. Deeply researched and elegantly argued, this book deftly balances sources from Russia’s central archives with rare and often overlooked archival material from the Caucasus region to provide the first historical examination of Kabardino-Balkaria in the English language. As such, Land, Community, and the State in the Caucasus is a key resource for scholars of the Caucasus region, modern Russia, and peace studies.

"This book is an excellent source of information on intercommunal and land relations in the Central Caucasus in the period from the Russian conquest in the 19th century to the post-Soviet era in general, and the social and political structure of Kabardino-Balkaria in particular." - International Journal of Russian Studies

"An important contribution both to the study of the political and social history of the Caucasus and to the larger study of intercommunal relations and peacebuilding in historically conflicted regions." - The Russian Review

"In Land, Community and the State in the Caucasus Lanzillotti takes us right to the heart of the Northern Caucasus. Skilfully reconstructing the multi-layered history of Kabardino-Balkaria from the age of waning empires to the imagined nations of the present, he offers to the reader a fascinating longue durée of a region located in the geopolitical shatter zone of local and imperial rule. Defying the binary construed by official historiography and bottom-up ethno-nationalism alike, Lanzillotti draws from rare archival materials to produce a rich and multi-layered account of the organic interplay among state power, local space and the multiple communities that make themselves at home in it. The book is a must-read for historians and scholars of conflict studies alike who are eager to comprehend the crucial role of access to land at the nexus of peaceful cohabitation and violent conflict." - Dr David Leupold, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient Berlin, Germany

"Ian Lanzillotti has conducted ground-breaking research, built on participant observation, summary of vast existing literature, and numerous new archival materials. In the course of his fieldwork in the Caucasus, the author found a new approach to understanding this well-studied but still perplexing region. Through the issue of access to land as the focal point of the study, this book analyzes the most important social and political problems that have been troubling the region. The vital findings of this book give cause for optimism for resolving centuries long conflicts in one of the most ethnically and confessionally diverse parts of the world." - Sufian N. Zhemukhov, Associate Research Professor of International Affairs, George Washington University, USA

"In this pathbreaking, fascinating, and richly researched book, Ian Lanzillotti explores questions of nationality policy, inter-ethnic relations, national identity formation, and the daily, lived experience of ethnicity and confession across a full swath of modern Eurasian history. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the complex causes of violence, social stability, and relative peacefulness in ethnically diverse lands." - Nicholas Breyfogle, Associate Professor of History, Ohio State University, USA