In the Caucasus, a new generation is growing with no direct memories of the USSR. Young people that are trying to build their own future, that look for a job and that more and more often play an active role in politics. They use the internet to stay in touch with each other and to organise social actions. In the northern Caucasus, the Russian government tries to fight unemployment and extremist movements supporting entrepreneurship and patriotism. In the South Caucasus, young people play an active role in the political life of their country, often struggling against those in power.

Read about dreams and daily life of youth in the Caucasus in this dossier by Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso

Reportage

Mashuk 2010, a youth camp in the Caucasus

09/12/2010 -  Giorgio Comai Pjatigorsk

Last August, the youth forum “Mashuk 2010”, the first summer camp promoted by Moscow's government and solely devoted to young people from the Russian Caucasus, was held in Pyatigorsk, an old spa town in Russia’s North Caucasian Federal District. The event focused on training for cultural interaction and support to youth entrepreneurship

Analysis

Business entrepreneurs, not terrorists

29/06/2010 -  Giorgio Comai

The Kremlin's new regional approach to the northern Caucasus, based on competition and economic development, includes young people as key actors. The strategy blends Soviet experiences with capitalist values

Reportage

Seliger's many faces

19/07/2010 -  Giorgio Comai Seliger

Thousands of young people from all over the world took part in a camp organised by the Russian government. A portrait of today's Russia, a country looking for openness and international recognition, where development and innovation are strictly tied to the Putin-Medvedev governmental “tandem”. A reportage

Northern Caucasus

Mr. President’s answers

25/02/2010 -  Giorgio Comai Nazran

On 19 February, Ingushetia’s President Yunus-bek Yevkurov held a meeting with local university students. When responding to students’ questions, Yevkurov never tried to deny that this small republic in the Northern Caucasus is stricken with problems

Azerbaijan

Youth activists and bloggers detained

20/07/2009 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada have been recently detained in Azerbaijan because of apparently groundless accusations. Despite inquiries to the local authorities by foreign embassies in Baku, they are still being held in jail

Azerbaijan

Grand Finale

17/11/2009 -  Arzu Geybullayeva Baku

Emin and Adnan, two young activist-bloggers earlier detained in Baku, Azerbaijan on charges that many international organizations consider fabricated, were condemned to serve heavy prison terms

Georgia

Tbilisi: batons and metal rods

14/10/2009 -  Giorgio Comai

In Georgia, opposition activists are victims of aggression and suffer violent attacks, even at the hands of the police. The government minimises these accusations and speaks of a Georgia which is headed straight on the path toward democracy

Fondazione Caritro

This dossier is part of the research project “Youth in the Northern Caucasus: associationism, identity, and patriotism in a complex, multi-ethnic context”, financed by Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Trento e Rovereto

Europeans

Their identity is not based on the past, but on their commitment to a common project for the future. They are members of a yet-to-become Europe: the Europe of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. They consider the EU as a peace project, but they look beyond the borders of Brussels’ Europe. Go to the new dossier of Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso