Government and Politics in Sri Lanka

Government and Politics in Sri Lanka
Author: A. R. Sriskanda Rajah
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2017-04-21
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1351967991

The island of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) was one of the few Asian colonies in which the British Empire experimented liberal state-building in the nineteenth century, and where many British colonial officials predicted that the independent state would become a liberal democratic success story. Sri Lanka has held on to much of the liberal democratic state-institutions left behind by the British Empire, including periodic elections. At the same time, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded in September 2015 that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Sri Lanka committed serious international crimes against the Tamils. Such accusations are usually levelled against authoritarian states; it is unusual for a democracy to face such charges. This book analyses where Sri Lanka stands as a state that has in place liberal democratic state-institutions but exhibits the characteristics of an authoritarian state. Using Michel Foucault’s concept of biopolitics, the author argues that Sri Lanka enacted racist legislations and perpetrated mass-atrocities on the Tamils as part of its biopolitics of institutionalising and securing a Sinhala-Buddhist ethnocratic state-order. The book also explores the ways that, apart from military action, power relations produce the effects of battle, and thus the way that peace can often become a means of waging war. The author provides fresh insights into Sri Lanka’s postcolonial policies and the system of government that it has in place. A novel approach to analysing Sri Lanka’s postcolonial policies and the system of government, this book will be of interests to researchers in the field of Political Science, Asian Politics and International Relations.

Sri Lanka--Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy

Sri Lanka--Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy
Author: Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 210
Release: 1986
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0226789527

Focusing on the historical events of post-independence Sri Lanka, S. J. Tambiah analyzes the causes of the violent conflict between the majority Sinhalese Buddhists and the minority Tamils. He demonstrates that the crisis is primarily a result of recent societal stresses—educational expansions, linguistic policy, unemployment, uneven income distribution, population movements, contemporary uses of the past as religious and national ideology, and trends toward authoritarianism—rather than age-old racial and religious differences. "In this concise, informative, lucidly written book, scrupulously documented and well indexed, [Tambiah] trains his dispassionate anthropologist's eye on the tangled roots of an urgent, present-day problem in the passionate hope that enlightenment, understanding, and a generous spirit of compromise may yet be able to prevail."—Merle Rubin, Christian Science Monitor "An incredibly rich and balanced analysis of the crisis. It is exemplary in highlighting the general complexities of ethnic crises in long-lived societies carrying a burden of historical memories."—Amita Shastri, Journal of Asian Studies "Tambiah makes an eloquent case for pluralist democracy in a country abundantly endowed with excuses to abandon such an approach to politics."—Donald L. Horowitz, New Republic "An excellent and thought-provoking book, for anyone who cares about Sri Lanka."—Paul Sieghart, Los Angeles Times Book Review

Politics in Sri Lanka, 1947-1979

Politics in Sri Lanka, 1947-1979
Author: A. Jeyaratnam Wilson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 320
Release: 1979
Genre: Sri Lanka
ISBN: 9780333262085

This Book Examines The Interelationships Between The Island`S Various Social, Religios And Ethni Groups, The Progress Of The Economy And The Processes Which Manipulate Change. This Revised Edition Not Only Updates Events But Makes Fresh Analyses In The Context Of Developments From 1973 To 1979. First End Page Missing, Bookseller`S Stamp On The Title Page, Text Absolutely Clean, Black Mark On The Last End Page, Condition Good

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka
Author: Russell R. Ross
Publisher:
Total Pages: 322
Release: 1990
Genre: Sri Lanka
ISBN:

This Divided Island

This Divided Island
Author: Samanth Subramanian
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2015-12-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1466878746

Samanth Subramanian has written about politics, culture, and history for the New York Times and the New Yorker. Now, Subramanian takes on a complex topic that touched millions of lives in This Divided Island. In the summer of 2009, the leader of the dreaded Tamil Tiger guerrillas was killed, bringing to an end the civil war in Sri Lanka. For nearly thirty years, the war's fingers had reached everywhere, leaving few places, and fewer people, untouched. What happens to the texture of life in a country that endures such bitter conflict? What happens to the country's soul? Subramanian gives us an extraordinary account of the Sri Lankan war and the lives it changed. Taking us to the ghosts of summers past, he tells the story of Sri Lanka today. Through travels and conversations, he examines how people reconcile themselves to violence, how the powerful become cruel, and how victory can be put to the task of reshaping memory and burying histories.

Dutch and British Colonial Intervention in Sri Lanka, 1780-1815

Dutch and British Colonial Intervention in Sri Lanka, 1780-1815
Author: Alicia Schrikker
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2007
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 900415602X

This study of Dutch and British colonial intervention on Sri Lanka in the period 1780 - 1815 provides a new over-all characterisation of the functioning and growth of the colonial state in a period of transition.