Ultra-Nationalism, Normative Dualism and the State in Deeply Divided Societies
In certain situations, India and Israel must address a conflict between a commitment to the major ethnic community of the state and an obligation to equal treatment of all citizens and liberal values of equality regardless of religion, race or sex. In a co-operative research project with Sarina Chen, as published in a paper in 2015, we revealed that both countries ‘suffer’ from ‘normative duality,’ which drives the state and its ruling bodies in two contradictory directions: 1) An aspiration to protect democracy and equality for all its citizens, and 2) a clear tendency toward, and often identification with, nationalist right-wing entities that seek to promote the nationalist element of the state. We analyzed the ways in which these states deal with this normative duality by examining the responses of each state to ultra-nationalist right wing terror attacks and by examining the limits of participation in politics. We found that in both cases, the state allows partial freedom of action to ultra-nationalist groups and that there is a significant gap between declared and implemented policy.