Introduction

The commonly shared view is that warfare invariably and radically transforms established patterns of group homogeneity and solidarity. It is generally assumed that the outbreak of war sharpens group boundaries across the lines of conflict, thus enhancing in-group solidarity and homogeneity vis-à-vis the threatening out-groups. More specifically, protracted violent conflicts are regularly seen as a forcing ground of intensive national attachments. Although there is disagreement on whether war and violence precede, and thus produce, strong national bonds, or whether warfare itself is a direct outcome of intensified nationalist feelings, there is virtually no disagreement that the eruption of war almost instinctively increases in-group solidarity and national homogeneity. The main aim of this chapter is to challenge this perceived link between warfare, macro-level solidarity and group homogeneity. In contrast to this, I argue that national homogenisation and the alleged large-scale group solidarity, witnessed at times of war and in the context of violent conflicts, are neither automatic and inevitable nor directly tied to warfare itself. Rather than being a cause or a direct product of war, the ostensible macro-level solidarity and group homogeneity exhibited in times of violent conflicts originate outside of these conflicts. In other words, instead of being an automatic social response, homogenisation is a complex process that requires a great deal of long-term institutional work. In-group solidarity is not something that ‘just happens’ and naturally occurs in times of war. It is a contested and messy process.