Nationalism’s internal contradictions pushed ill-fitted nations toward imperial oppression bridged by racism

Evidence

The more ill-fitted nations were for the incorporation of foreign peoples (which contradicted the constitution of their own body politic), the more they were tempted to oppress them. In theory, there is an abyss between nationalism and imperialism; in practice, it can and has been bridged by tribal nationalism and outright racism. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 417

Categorization

• XREF: States the theory/practice gap between nationalism and imperialism that the Islamophobia field’s own framing of race and nation will echo; connects to Arendt’s later chapters on race-thinking. — connects to: the MOC “The Tongue of Power: When Language Becomes the Battlefield of Empire”