Politicians suppress minority turnout and invent threats to mask authoritarianism

Evidence

In a fit of postwar hubris, he decided he could win elections by relying solely on the Sinhalese Buddhists. Violence that diminished Muslim turnout at elections thus suited Rajapaksa and the SLFP. With Tamils now subjugated, playing up the Muslim threat was perhaps also designed to mask the country’s economic challenges and authoritarianism that Rajapaksa and his family were attempting to institute. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 1373

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels the Hindutva case ch8 claim that a manufactured Muslim enemy alibis internal caste/economic exploitation and masks domination. — connects to: Voter suppression targets the political power of liberal and nonwhite majorities. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project: A New American Origin…, 660; Politicians adopt racist rhetoric for votes rather than conviction — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 947; Fear of mass literacy for the voter rolls helped trigger Brazil’s 1964 coup — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed:…, 105

Broader Connections

• Voter suppression targets the political power of liberal and nonwhite majorities. #expands (0.85) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 660
• Politicians adopt racist rhetoric for votes rather than conviction #exemplifies (0.72) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 947