When Politics Are Sacralized : Comparative Perspectives on Religious Claims and Nationalism

Over the years, there have been increasing intersections between religious claims and nationalism and their power to frame and govern world politics. When Politics Are Sacralized interdisciplinarily and comparatively examines the fusion between religious claims and nationalism and studies its political manifestations. State and world politics, when determined or framed by nationalism fused with religious claims, can provoke protracted conflict, infuse explicit religious beliefs into politics, and legitimize violence against racialized groups. This volume investigates how, through hegemonic nationalism, states invoke religious claims in domestic and international politics, sacralizing the political. Studying Israel, India, the Palestinian National Movement and Hamas, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Iran, and Northern Ireland, the thirteen chapters engage with the visibility, performativity, role, and political legitimation of religion and nationalism. The authors analyze how and why sacralization affects political behaviors apparent in national and international politics, produces state-sponsored violence, and shapes conflict. -- Publisher description Cover 1 Half-title page 3 Title page 5 Copyright page 6 Contents 7 List of Figures 9 List of Maps 10 List of Tables 11 List of Contributors 12 Preface and Acknowledgments 17 1 A Comparative Perspective on Religious Claims and Sacralized Politics: An Introduction 21 Part I Israel 51 2 Religion and Nationalism in the Jewish and Zionist Context 53 3 Religious Claims and Nationalism in Zionism: Obscuring Settler Colonialism 74 4 On the Uses and Abuses of Tradition: Zionist Theopolitics and Jewish Tradition 108 5 The Relations between the Nationalization of Israel’s Politics and the Religionization of Its Military, 1948–2016 133 6 Sacralized Politics: The Case of Occupied East Jerusalem 154 Part II India 179 7 Hindutva: The Dominant Face of Religious Nationalism in India 181 Part III Sri Lanka 205 8 The Genesis, Consolidation, and Consequences of Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalism 207 Part IV Serbia 233 9 Serbian Jerusalem: Inventing a Holy Land in Europe’s Periphery, 1982–2019 235 Part V Iran 265 10 The Crossing Paths of Religion and Nationalism in Contemporary Iran 267 Part VI Saudi Arabia and Wahhabism 293 11 Saudi Nationalism, Wahhabi Daʿwā, and Western Power 295 Part VII Northern Ireland 327 12 Protestantism and Settler Identity: The Ambiguous Case of Northern Ireland 329 13 Does Religion Still Matter?: Comparative Lessons from the Ethno-national Conflict in Northern Ireland 357 Part VIII Palestine 383 14 Palestinian Nationalism, Religious (Un)claims, and the Struggle against Zionism 385 Index 407 Modern politics can be fused with religious and nationalist ideologies and myths, producing state violence. By sharing comparative analyses from India, Iran, Israel, Northern Ireland, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, and Sri Lanka, this volume examines historical underpinnings, present politics, and the future of the sacralization of politics.