Sri Lanka: State of Research on Democracy

In Sri Lanka's political science research, the body of work directly on the theme of democracy is somewhat thin. The survey and studies on the 'State of Democracy and Human Security', carried out by the Social Scientists Association (SSA) in 2004-2005 is the main research effort made directly in the field of democracy studies. This was a part of a larger South Asian study. The report on the State of Democracy in South Asia is now published by the Oxford University Press, India. Nevertheless, in the wide body of scholarly literature on political and social change in the post-colonial Sri Lanka written by political scientists, historians, sociologists and anthropologists, themes with direct relevance to democracy studies have constituted a subject of continuing interest. This paper has two main parts. In the first part, it presents a survey of the major themes that have constitued the broadly social science research that are useful to place the problematic of democracy in a new research agenda. In the second, the paper suggests a few possible areas of new research on the theme of democracy

Sri Lanka: State of Research on Democracy

In Sri Lanka's political science research, the body of work directly on the theme of democracy is somewhat thin. The survey and studies on the ‘State of Democracy and Human Security”, carried out by the Social Scientists' Association (SSA) in 2004-2005 is the main research effort made directly in the field of democracy studies. This was a part of a larger South Asian study. The report on the State of Democracy in South Asia is now published by the Oxford University Press, India. Nevertheless, in the wide body of scholarly literature on political and social change in the postcolonial Sri Lanka written by political scientists, historians, sociologists and anthropologists, themes with direct relevance to democracy studies have constituted a subject of continuing interest

State of Democracy in Sri Lanka: A Preliminary Report

This paper is a preliminary report on citizens understanding and perceptions of democracy in Sri Lanka, as reflected in a survey carried out in 2004-2005. The survey was a part of a South Asian study covering Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka on the theme "State of Democracy and Human Security in South Asia." The report of the overall study has now been published as State of Democracy in South Asia: A Report (2008). In terms of methodology, the study had four methodological 'pathways'. They are (i) case studies, (ii) dialogues, (iii) qualitative assessments, and (iv) cross-section surveys. The cross section survey carried out in each country was the principal instrument of data collection for the study. It sought to elicit broad trends of people's opinions, attitudes and behaviour in relation to democracy. The other three pathways provided qualitative assessments and dimensions that were not captured in the cross-section survey. The pathway of 'Dialogues' was chosen in order to recognise and retrieve bodies and voices of critical knowledge that are available among different social and political constituencies. Under the component 'Qualitative Assessments', scholars active in social science research were asked to 'assess' the experience of democracy in a non-partisan basis. The qualitative assessments addressed questions formulated around five key themes: (i) the promise of democracy, (ii) design of democracy, (iii) working of democracy, (iv) democracy's outcomes, and (v) democracy's futures

Winning wars, building (illiberal) peace? The rise (and possible fall) of a victor’s peace in Rwanda and Sri Lanka

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Third World Quarterly on 25th September 2015, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/01436597.2015.1058150.© 2015 Southseries Inc., www.thirdworldquarterly.com.The literature on peacebuilding dedicates very little space, empirically and theoretically, to countries that are emerging from a war waged to a decisive outcome. This review essay looks at Sri Lanka and Rwanda, two countries where a victorious leadership has led the process of post-conflict reconstruction, largely by employing illiberal means. It looks at the effect of decisive war on statebuilding and at the role of local agency and illiberal practices in a post-victory context. It concludes by assessing the global significance and long-term sustainability of post-victory illiberal statebuilding

Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka : changing dynamics

For more about the East-West Center, see http://www.eastwestcenter.org/Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict has become protracted and intractable. The twenty-five-year-old civil war has been interrupted numerous times for a negotiated peace and political settlement, yet the conflict has defied de-escalation. All failed attempts at negotiated peace have propelled the civil war forward with greater vitality and intensity. Attempts at negotiated settlement, with or without ceasefires, have not only failed but have redefined the conflict. This study suggests that early de-escalation or a long-term settlement is not possible at present. A protracted conflict requires a protracted process of political transformation. Since the question of state power is at the core of the conflict, a credible short-term path to peace should begin with negotiations that aim at, and lead to, reconstituting state power along ethnic lines. This will require a grand ethnic compromise among Sinhalese, Tamil, and Muslim elites, backed by the people in the three main ethnic formations

State Reform from Below : Local and Community Initiatives for Peace Building, Development and Political Reforms in Sri Lanka; draft final progress report, November, 2008 to September, 2011

A key objective of this research project is to identify possibilities for state reform from below. Based on extensive field research, establishing alliances between local level political institutions and informal community institutions of citizens is crucial to democratize local governance. Sustainable peace-building in Sri Lanka requires political reform initiatives not only at the level of macro-political structures, but also at the level of the community and in the periphery. Deepening democracy at the local level in Sri Lanka requires linking political democratization with societal democratization. Research findings from project activities are delineated in this report