Experts express need for training ethnopolitical analysts for Caucasus

The Russian institutions of higher education have launched the process to arrange departments on ethnopolitical science, and the need for specialists in the sphere is getting higher. This opinion was expressed by experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot". On June 1, Pyatigorsk is to open the conference on counterterrorism. There is still no department of ethnopolitical science in the city yet; however, local scientists have already started working in that direction, reports an official of the Federal Agency for Nationalities.

On June 1-3, the Pyatigorsk State Linguistic University (known as PGLU) will host the international scientific-practical conference "Threats and challenges of the Islamic State and ways to overcome them". Participation in the conference was confirmed by delegates of 15 countries, reports the PGLU press service.

According to Abdulgamid Bulatov, the chief of the Department to strengthen national unity and prevention of extremism on ethnic and religious grounds of the Agency for Nationalities, in 2008, the PGLU for the first time in Northern Caucasus opened the theological department of Islam. Abdulgamid Bulatov emphasizes that Dagestan also prepares to open a similar study centre.

The religious factor is very important for the activities in the field of international relations and the study of ethno-political science. This was emphasized by Professor Igor Sledzevsky, the head of the Centre for Civilizational and Regional Studies of the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.