The Formation, Institutionalization and Consolidation of the LTTE: Religious Practices, Intra-Tamil Divisions and a Violent Nationalist Ideology

Politics, Religion & Ideology, Forthcoming

22 Pages Posted: 28 Nov 2012

Date Written: November 27, 2012

Abstract

This article uses the historical case of the LTTE in Sri Lanka, for understanding the critical role that religious organization, ideological fitness, and state capacity can play in the formation, institutionalization and consolidation of the non state armed groups. It uses a historical lens to explore the processes of ethnic mobilization of the Tamils through a Tamil religious re-awakening during the British colonial period. Religious practices were invoked to consolidate the social dominance of the Vellalar caste and blocked the upward economic, social and political mobility of the other Tamil castes, thus enabling the emergence of lower-caste groups such as the LTTE in the 1970s. Later the LTTE’s ideology privileged its nationalist goals over Marxist doctrinal purity because of the group’s commitment to improved intra-Tamil caste equality; an ideological approach which only increased the LTTE’s legitimacy within the Tamil community and solidified its institutionalization as a viable Tamil group.

Keywords: Tamil, Sri Lanka, ethnic conflict, religion, caste, ideology, fractionalization, intra-ethnic, inter-ethnic

JEL Classification: D71, D73, D74

Suggested Citation

Biziouras, Nikolaos, The Formation, Institutionalization and Consolidation of the LTTE: Religious Practices, Intra-Tamil Divisions and a Violent Nationalist Ideology (November 27, 2012). Politics, Religion & Ideology, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2181666

Nikolaos Biziouras (Contact Author)

US Naval Academy ( email )

589 McNair Road
Annapolis, MD 21402
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
142
Abstract Views
854
Rank
368,681
PlumX Metrics