Invented sacred territorial traditions serve elites while ruining the nation

Evidence

By contrast, the anti-Western ethno-religious nationalists have been responsible for Serbia’s unnecessary, failed, and costly attempts to “return” to “Old Serbia” (Kosovo and Macedonia), as well as the pursuit of the restoration of Tsar Dusˇan’s empire. Specifically, the sacralization of Kosovo as the “cradle of Serbia” is an invented tradition, as well as a religiousnationalistic myth, which worked only for the conservative clerical-nationalistic elites while they were ruining Serbia and exporting the disaster to the neighboring countries. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 1568

Categorization

• XREF: Directly bears on the reader’s question about what happens when the manufactured enemy/threat politics fail — here the author argues sacralization served only a narrow elite while the nation and its actual demographic base (Serbs fleeing abroad) decayed. — connects to: Extreme nationalism sacralizes the nation and justifies enslaving others — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2440; Resurgent nationalism fuses invented tradition with narcissistic minor-difference resentment.; Nation-states fabricate founding myths to legitimate class rule — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 872 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Nation-states fabricate founding myths to legitimate class rule #corroborates (0.90) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 872
• Resurgent nationalism fuses invented tradition with narcissistic minor-difference resentment. #expands (0.85)
• Extreme nationalism sacralizes the nation and justifies enslaving others #expands (0.80) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2440
• The ideology’s logical process devours the very people it was meant to serve #expands (0.75)
• Nationalist ideology turns dissent into treason and undermines civil society #expands (0.75) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 56
• Cultural power operates through a constantly shifting boundary of what counts as tradition #expands (0.70) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 1016