Sectarian Identity in the Era of the Nation-State

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between sectarian identity, the nation-state and nationalism It challenges one of the most common and most misplaced assumptions in the field, namely that sectarian identity and national identity are opposites or that they are mutually exclusive. This misplaced assumption frames what is assumed to be a normatively positive, modern, secular and territorialized national identity as the antidote to the ills of a normatively negative, pre-modern, religious and transnational sectarian identity. All of which overlooks one of the defining features of modern sectarian identity, namely its interaction with, and refraction through, the nation-state, national identity and nationalism. Far from negating the nation-state or denying nationalism, modern sectarian competition has more often revolved around contested national truths and contested hierarchies of power within the nation-state. The chapter surveys the literature on nationalism and demonstrates its relevance to the study of sectarian dynamics at the national level. The chapter also highlights the importance of the national level by examining the impact of the advent of the nation-state on sectarian relations. To that end, a survey of sectarian relations in the medieval and early-modern periods is contrasted against sectarian dynamics in the era of the nation-state.