Nationalist ideology turns dissent into treason and undermines civil society

Evidence

This study argues that political Buddhism and Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism have created the nationalist ideology currently prevalent in government and in the predominantly Sinhalese Buddhist society. Adherents to this nationalist ideology insist on expanding and perpetuating Sinhalese Buddhist supremacy within a unitary state; creating rules, laws, and structures that institutionalize such supremacy; and attacking those who disagree with this agenda. For those who have bought into it, this ideology is sacrosanct and hence nonnegotiable, and consequently all who question or oppose it are considered enemies of the state. Although such dogmatism may promote political participation, especially among the majority community, it undermines civil society and fosters illiberalism. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 56

Categorization

• XREF: Speaks to the reader’s question about what happens when rational correction is attempted against a threat-hardened belief: dissent is coded as enmity, echoing the manufactured-enemy dynamic. — connects to: Invented sacred territorial traditions serve elites while ruining the nation — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 1568; Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist ideology frames dissenters as enemies of the state. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 36; Threat-hardened nationalist forces punished accommodation of the out-group. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 128 (+12 more)
• QUESTION: The claim that treating ideology as ‘sacrosanct and nonnegotiable’ makes opponents ‘enemies of the state’ directly bears on whether moral correction backfires when the belief is threat-hardened.

Broader Connections

• Siege regimes criminalize opposition and cross-societal solidarity as treason #corroborates (0.88) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 677
• Extreme nationalism sacralizes the nation and justifies enslaving others #expands (0.85) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2440
• American nationalism has suppressed foreign-coded dissent since the republic’s founding #exemplifies (0.82)
• The nationalist ideology needs a manufactured enemy to mobilize #expands (0.80) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 303
• Clash-of-civilizations rhetoric ideologically legitimized both foreign wars and domestic attacks #exemplifies (0.78) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 421
• Ruling-class nationalism aimed to discipline the crowd into a nation #expands (0.75)