Read the passage given below and answer the following question.
Historically, states have tried to establish and enhance their political legitimacy through nation-building strategies. They sought to secure … the loyalty and obedience of their citizens through policies of assimilation or integration. Attaining these objectives was not easy, especially in a context of cultural diversity where citizens, in addition to their identifications with their country, might also feel a strong sense of identity with their community – ethnic, religious, linguistic and so on. Most states feared that the recognition of such difference would lead to social fragmentation and prevent the creation of a harmonious society. In short, such identity politics was considered a threat to state unity. In addition, accommodating these differences is politically challenging, so many states have resorted to either suppressing these diverse identities or ignoring them on the political domain. Policies of assimilation – often involving outright suppression of the identities of ethnic, religious or linguistic groups – try to erode the cultural differences between groups. Policies of integration seek to assert a single national identity by attempting to eliminate ethno-national and cultural differences from the public and political arena, while allowing them in the private domain. Both sets of policies assume a singular national identity.
According to the passage, why did many states adopt policies of assimilation and integration?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option 1: To strengthen political legitimacy by promoting a singular national identity.
Reason: The passage explains that states adopted policies of assimilation and integration as nation-building strategies to secure the loyalty and obedience of their citizens. While these two policies differ in their methods, both are based on the assumption of a singular national identity, which states considered necessary for strengthening political legitimacy and maintaining unity.
Option 2: To strengthen political legitimacy by expanding the political role of community identities — Incorrect. The passage states that many states viewed strong community identities as politically challenging and often suppressed or ignored them in the political domain instead of expanding their political role.
Option 3: To strengthen political legitimacy by encouraging autonomous cultural governance — Incorrect. The passage does not mention encouraging autonomous governance for cultural communities. Instead, it describes measures such as centralising power and reducing the autonomy of local or minority groups to establish a singular national identity.
Option 4: To strengthen political legitimacy by balancing public recognition of all community identities — Incorrect. The passage explains that assimilation and integration seek to reduce the public expression of cultural differences. Integration allows such differences only in the private sphere, while assimilation attempts to erode them altogether. Therefore, these policies do not aim to balance public recognition of all community identities.