Religion, Nationalism and Regime Formation in Divided Societies: Comparative Cases in Southeast Asia

• In Event: Religion and Nationalism in Contemporary Southeast Asia: Historical Legacies, Political Mobilization and Identity Formation

Abstract

According to modernist accounts, nationalism and nation-building are a modern phenomenon that is mostly the result of modern state formation and/or emerging market capitalism. In these common accounts, the role of religion (or lack thereof) is largely neglected. As acknowledged by recent studies, Southeast Asian states and their post-independent nation-building experiences challenge such modernist accounts of nationalism both empirically and theoretically. In Thailand and Malaysia, for example, a majority religion formed the core foundation of official nationalism and counter forces, forcing challengers to struggle against these dominant visions of nation in order to advance an alternative national model. Moreover, more recent upsurges of violence against religious minorities in Burma and Indonesia raise questions about the success of secular nationalism in deeply divided societies. This paper comparatively examines various forms of nationalism in Southeast Asia to gain a better understanding of the role of religion in the process of official nation-building and the consequences of the process on the problem of religious freedom and communal rights. In particular, it looks into two sets of comparable cases, Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia and Buddhist-majority Burma and Thailand, in order to answer why and how religious and secular nationalism gain prominence in official nation-building in some places but not others. In contrast to conventional accounts, my historical comparative analysis of those Southeast Asian nations will be focused on regime formation, with a particular interest in political and religious elites’ efforts to consolidate power and authority within their respective majority community.

Author

• Kikue Hamayotsu, Northern Illinois University