Asian internal conflicts spring from contests over legitimacy, identity, state building, and distributive justice.

Evidence

Internal conflicts in Asia can be traced to contestations over political legitimacy (the title to rule), national identity, state building, and distributive justice––that are often interconnected. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 494

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the analytical scaffolding (legitimacy, identity, state-building, distributive justice) DeVotta will apply to assess whether Sinhalese-Tamil conflict is fought over real grievances or manufactured identity claims.
• XREF: connects to: Group conflict arises from both genuine interest clashes and symbolic differences.; Sino-American conflict stems from rival visions of East Asia’s power balance. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 613; National identity struggles reduce to competition for state-institutional domination — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3266

Broader Connections

• Group conflict arises from both genuine interest clashes and symbolic differences. #expands (0.80)
• Sino-American conflict stems from rival visions of East Asia’s power balance. #exemplifies (0.72) — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 613
• National identity struggles reduce to competition for state-institutional domination #qualifies (0.72) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3266