Excluding one nationality could shatter a multinational empire’s bureaucratic balance.

Evidence

Schoenerer, who discovered antisemitism at the same time, probably became aware of its possibilities almost by accident: since he wanted above all to destroy the Hapsburg empire, it was not difficult to calculate the effect of the exclusion of one nationality on a state structure that rested on a multitude of nationalities. The whole fabric of this peculiar constitution, the precarious balance of its bureaucracy could be shattered if the moderate oppression, under which all nationalities enjoyed a certain amount of equality, was undermined by popular movements. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 606

Categorization

• QUESTION: Arendt’s claim that moderate-but-equal oppression kept the Hapsburg system stable is worth interrogating further — it suggests a functionalist account of how multi-ethnic states cohere.
• XREF: Foreshadows how ‘Other’-targeting nationalist movements destabilize plural states — a mechanism directly parallel to contemporary anxieties over representation and exclusion of minorities.