Only a subset of states fuse religion into nationalism to legitimize policy.

Evidence

Thus, in many instances (particularly before the recent rise of populism in the US and some European countries), modern nationalisms have traces of religious-like influence on state policies – for example, in the US and Europe (e.g., Bellah 1998; Brubaker 2012; Gorski 2017). In other cases, the politics and political works of religion and religious claims come to play a major role in the state by, for example, legitimizing state ideologies, strategies, and policies, because religion fuses with nationalism as in Sri Lanka (DeVotta 2007), India (Kamat and Matthew 2003; Nigam 2006; Sarkar 2002), the former Yugoslavia (Perica 2002; Sells 1998), and Israel (Bishara 2005; Chapters 2 and 3 in this volume). This also applies to some states with regional stature, such as Iran (Chapter 10 in this volume; Moallem 2005) and Saudi Arabia (Chapter 11 in this volume; al-Rasheed 2014). The nuances of the political impact of religious claims in these (and other) sites are not put always into productive conversation with one another. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 76

Categorization

• XREF: Sri Lanka, India, Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and former Yugoslavia as the case set for sacralized politics. — connects to: Religion fuses with nationalism only when it legitimizes actual state governance — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 75; Religious legitimation of policy is usually studied only as social-sphere activism. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 87; Secularist bias hid that nationalism and religion fused while remaining distinct — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 70 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Religion fuses with nationalism only when it legitimizes actual state governance #corroborates (0.90) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 75
• Nationalisms vary in how fully religion defines them rather than merely residue #expands (0.80) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 102
• Secularist bias hid that nationalism and religion fused while remaining distinct #expands (0.78) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 70
• Religious legitimation of policy is usually studied only as social-sphere activism. #qualifies (0.75) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 87