Declining national fervor can paradoxically empower religious groups inside militaries

Evidence

As predicted by the theory about the linkage between extra-military and intramilitary processes (presented in the introduction), the denationalization of politics may paradoxically lead to the religionization of the military. The effects of demilitarization on the military opened up new opportunities for religious youth to improve their position in the IDF by taking advantage of the partial loss of interest in the military of their secular peers. These opportunities were reinforced with the outbreak of the First Intifada in 1987, inviting religious soldiers to defend Israel’s contested control over what these soldiers perceived as the holy West Bank. Against this background, an alternative, new social mobility track appeared. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 869

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to social-mobility-through-state-institutions dynamics and the broader question of how groups compensate for status loss via alternative institutions. — connects to: A legitimating myth’s collapse can shift political initiative to marginalized religious movements — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 860; Societal secularization and denationalization can paradoxically empower religious groups within armies — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 869; Political denationalization can paradoxically strengthen religionization inside the military — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 869 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Political denationalization can paradoxically strengthen religionization inside the military #corroborates (0.95) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 869
• Religious nationalism intensifies during social crises regardless of demographic religious decline #expands (0.75) — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 197
• Religious war rhetoric loses force and gives way to nationalism #contradicts (0.70) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 1730