ABSTRACT
We have argued that plurality is not given but socially constructed and that conflicts in loyalties are normal occurrences in the lives of citizens. However, in some societies and in certain periods we do not find variable plurality and conflicts but permanent groups separated by unbridgeable cleavages. Plurality seems to have frozen into hard groups, whose chilly relations are reinforced through repetitive social construction. Temporary conflicts seem to have become permanent enmities. The organization of plurality is failing, again and again. This chapter considers such situations. Many observers have assumed that they constitute the “normal” state societies are in. Earlier, we argued that regardless of whether this was so in the past, at present, plurality is much more fleeting and variable. The historical movement is toward a pluralization of plurality. (Lately, as in Bosnia, this movement seems to have changed direction, groups having become locked again into permanent enmity. Further on in this chapter, I show how this change may be understood to arise out of the broader movement of pluralization.) Nevertheless, fixation into permanent group opposition does occur also in present-day societies and poses a serious challenge to the viability of citizenship as a principle of public order.
