National identities can become negatively interdependent and zero-sum

Evidence

For example, Kelman (1999) argued that the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has been characterized by negative interdependence between the two national identities. According to this account, the two sides have not only defined access to territory as a zero-sum conflict, but also their national identities. That is, “each group’s success in identity building depends on the other’s failure in that task” (p. 589), and thus each side has denied the legitimacy of the other’s national identity. For example, Palestinians have argued that Judaism is a religion and is therefore not a true basis for a nation state, while Israelis have contended that Palestinian nationalism is an artificial creation without historical foundations. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1123

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in identity formation and intergroup dynamics; echoes the identity politics themes in The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Home Boy. — connects to: Language policy framed as zero-sum triggered counter-nationalism.
• QUESTION: Kelman’s negational identification concept is worth chasing down — the idea that an in-group defines itself by opposing an out-group has wide applicability beyond Israel-Palestine.