Abstract EN:

In the middle 80s the implementation of perestroïka in the Soviet Union opens the way to mobilizations of identity in Northern Caucasus, a Russian region where tens of different people coexist. Colonized by the Russian empire during the XIXth century, this region was then sovietized in 1921 after a brief period of independence. A thematic analysis of the vectors of mobilization drives to group them together in two triptychs. Linguistic rehabilitation, the promotion of tradition as a fundamental value, the writing of his own history, all these aspirations form a first triptych. This triptych is essentially based on the idea of " national renaissance ". A second triptych includes quests putting forward identifications à géométrie variable, mobilizing additional resources such as territory, promoting supranational projects such as the establishment of a Confederation of Caucasian peoples or the enforcement of Islam as unifying bond. After focusing on these triptychs in the two first parts, the third part analyzes the way these mobilizations were met, or not, by the incumbent authorities. This is an attempt to understand which of them were negotiable, and which were not, creating instead a conflictual situation. While " sovereignties " granted to federated Republics, the support granted by the federal power to the heads of the Executive as well as internal negotiations contributed to a certain stability and control of more political aspirations. In the case of Chechnya, the overthrow of the Soviet authorities by a national movement, combined with a refusal to negotiate on both sides, drove to war. The effects of the latter are increasingly felt on the whole region.