Removing a named external threat intensifies rather than softens dominant-group nationalism.

Evidence

During the civil war, Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists claimed that the country did not have an ethnic problem; it merely had a terrorist problem. It was a convenient way to overlook the ethnocentric policies that spawned the civil war and instead emphasize the LTTE’s depredations. But were terrorism the main problem, its demise ought to have led to a tolerant milieu. Instead, postwar ethno-religious triumphalism has inspired attacks against the island’s Muslims even as legitimate Tamil aspirations get suppressed. The upshot is that Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism is more potent today than at any point in the past. Triumphant nationalism undergirded by religious beliefs and empowered by military victory does not lead to tolerance; it instead leads to more dominance. — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 1391

Categorization

• XREF: Directly addresses the central research question: when the constructed enemy (LTTE ‘terrorism’) is eliminated, solidarity does not decay — it consolidates and finds new targets (Muslims). — connects to: With the Tamil enemy removed, nationalists manufactured a Muslim threat to sustain group solidarity — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 1369; Official nationalism is an anticipatory strategy by threatened dominant groups — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 385; Groups internalize external threat as an oath to preserve cohesion after danger recedes — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 509 (+10 more)
• SEED: Angle: the ‘terrorist problem vs ethnic problem’ reframe as a diagnostic — when the nominal enemy dies and intolerance persists, the true enemy was never the threat but the group’s own hegemony.

Broader Connections

• Official nationalism is an anticipatory strategy by threatened dominant groups #corroborates (0.88) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 385
• Groups internalize external threat as an oath to preserve cohesion after danger recedes #corroborates (0.85) — Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form, 509
• Threat-hardened nationalist forces punished accommodation of the out-group. #exemplifies (0.80) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 128
• A threatened dominant group shifts from paternalistic to openly hostile stereotypes #expands (0.78) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 2757
• International threats unify a nation while internal instability divides it #complicates (0.75) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1517
• Dominant groups treat subjugated groups’ potential self-determination as a threat to their own domination. #expands (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1504
• Threat can redirect hostility toward unrelated weaker outgroups #expands (0.72) — Walter G. Stephan, Oscar Ybarra, Kimberly Rios Morrison, Intergroup Threat Theory, 20