Islam in the CIS: A Threat to Stability?

The revival of Islam in Central Asia and the Caucasus led to a popular reawakening of religious consciousness and identity, to the restoration of ties with other Muslim communities, and to the emergence of radical new strands of Islamist thinking and activism. In this paper, Yaacov Ro'i highlights the complex factors influencing the evolution of Islam in different Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) nations, evaluates the prospects of Islam's further politicization and assesses the likelihood of radical Islamism posing a major threat to the stability of these states.