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Warnasuriya, Mihiri Saritha. "Building the 'Sri Lankan nation' through education : the identity politics of teaching history in a multicultural post-war society." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2019. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/290147.
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Driven by the overarching objective of promoting reconciliation through education, this thesis strives to unpack the first national goal of education set out by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Education, which involves nation building and the establishment of a Sri Lankan identity through the promotion of social cohesion and the recognition of cultural diversity in Sri Lanka's plural society. Within education, history teaching in secondary school acts as the main focus of the research, due to the relevance of this goal to the subject of history as well as the ability of history to shape the attitudes and perceptions of youth. As such, the original contribution of this thesis is the development of an understanding of how the goal of nation building is being carried out through the Sri Lankan education system by focusing on the subject of history, which in turn facilitates an analysis of the identity politics of teaching history in a multicultural post-war society. With the intention of developing such an understanding, the study aims to answer three research questions: 1) What type of nation is being built through history education in Sri Lanka?; 2) How is the ethnic and religious diversity which characterises the Sri Lankan nation being dealt with through history education?; and 3) How are Sri Lankan youth being aided in understanding the sensitive matters which impeded the nation building exercise in the recent past and resulted in the break out of the ethnic conflict? The thesis draws on an inductive approach, using qualitative research and secondary literature. Findings are generated from field work and textbook analysis. Conducted in four different districts around the country chosen based on their ethnic and religious compositions, field work involves the conducting of interviews with youth, history teachers, curriculum developers, textbook writers and other academics. This thesis argues that an ambiguity regarding the composition of the 'Sri Lankan nation' is being created through history education, with it sometimes being characterised as a purely Sinhalese-Buddhist nation instead of a multicultural one. This is most likely because the prominent players involved in the development of the curriculum themselves appear to be conflicted about the monoethnic versus polyethnic nature of the nation, with their views filtering through to the educational materials they produce. It is evident that the history curriculum predominantly contains Sinhalese-Buddhist history, with little information being conveyed about the history of the minority groups. Tamils and Muslims are portrayed as invaders and outsiders since the national story is narrated through the perspective of the Sinhalese-Buddhist community who play the role of the protagonist. With respect to stakeholder reactions, there appears to be a contrast in the attitudes of Tamil and Muslim youth regarding the portrayal of minority history, with Tamils being vocal about their anger towards the perceived bias, but Muslims being reluctant to discuss ethnic matters, preferring to sweep them under the rug. Finally, in terms of the ethnically sensitive matters in recent history, while some are completely omitted from the history lessons, others are narrated through a majoritarian perspective or glossed over by leaving out key pieces of information. Youth are therefore largely unaware of the contentious matters that led to the breakdown of ethnic relations in the country, despite having lived through a brutal ethnic conflict. These findings indicate the failings of the nation building exercise being carried out through history education. Instead of building a strong Sri Lankan identity, this type of education is creating confusion regarding the composition of the nation and adversely affecting the sense of belonging of minority youth. It is also creating a younger generation who are unaware of their country's past troubles. The recent spate of ethnic and religious violence that shook the nation highlight the need to address these weaknesses in a timely manner, with a view to promoting reconciliation through education.
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Vidanage, Harinda Ranura. "Exploring the impact of online politics on political agents and political strategies in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/5949.
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The thesis explores the role and impact of the internet on Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora political activism, focusing on both the experiences of political activists and on an analysis of web content related to diaspora activism. The central argument of the thesis is based around the relationship between political agents and cyberspace. The thesis argues that the political strategies and tactics adopted in the Tamil diasporan political sphere have changed with an increased dependence on the internet changing with it the politics and lives of individual activists. Cyberspace is presented as a site of power struggle with power as both an objective and source in micro-political struggles. The thesis also highlights the double sense of space attributed to cyberspace, both as a space facilitating political activism and as a qualitatively new space for politics. It traces the manifestation of violence in cyberspace based on its extensive reach and the collateral damage it can cause in political conflicts. Also the thesis argues that these intense web engagements for domination and resistance within the diaspora communities cause the emergence of new political priorities in Tamil diaspora politics. These do not parallel political developments in the conflict back in Sri Lanka. The thesis is based on research conducted from 2005 to 2008 during heightened rivalries between supporters of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) and dissident Tamil diaspora political activists which involved the extensive use of cyberspace for political purposes. The empirical research consisted of an integrated framework of online and offline research. The offline research was based on eight months of fieldwork in London including interviews with Tamil diaspora political activists across the spectrum from pro-LTTE to anti-LTTE dissidents. The online research was based on the technique of Web Sphere Analysis, which enables a framing of web content into a coherent unit of analysis.
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FIeld, Nayomi Gunasekara. "Making Extremism Pay? Centripetalism and Nationalism in Post-War Sri Lanka." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1461018330.
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Brunger, Fern M. "Safeguarding Mother Tamil in multicultural Quebec : Sri Lankan legends, Canadian myths, and the politics of culture." Thesis, McGill University, 1994. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=28425.
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I examine the concept of "culture" being promoted in the Canadian policy of multiculturalism and by Tamil refugees safeguarding their culture in Quebec. I take culture in its relation to power as my focus. I explore what culture means to the Tamils, and how the Canadian ideology of multiculturalism is implicated in the way Tamil "culture keepers" (re)construct their cultural identity.<br>This research addresses popular "multiculturalism" movements which use anthropological notions of culture but fail to problematize the notion of culture itself. I illustrate how and why the concept of culture is itself culturally embedded and historically shaped, and thus dense with political implications.<br>It also addresses anthropological approaches which avoid realist ethnography because of its political implications. I argue that a focus on culture in its relation to power is necessary in order to examine anthropology's own continuing involvement in imperialism.
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Alawattage, Chandana G. "The cultural politics of production : ethnicity, gender and the labour process in Sri Lankan tea plantations." Thesis, Keele University, 2005. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.414757.
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Watson, Elliott L. "America and Sri Lanka : terrorism ignored?" Thesis, Swansea University, 2010. https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa43109.
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The central investigation of the thesis is an exploration of why the US has, historically, done very little in terms of assisting the various Sri Lankan governments in their fight against, what the US Department of State determined as, one of the most deadly terrorist organisations on the planet. The thesis traces the development of the US-Sri Lanka relationship from independence (1948) to present day, identifying trends and motifs in the bi-lateral connection. Once identified, these trends and motifs are used to place the American response to the emerging conflict in a clear historical context. The work makes it clear that there are unambiguous historical indicators in the US-Sri Lanka relationship that help determine the nature of it, and that these indicators become ever more apparent, even dominant, as the war between the Tamil insurgents and the Sri Lankan state intensifies. These historical indicators are then used to frame the impact of the War on Terror on America's orientation towards the conflict. The investigation draws together the historical dynamics that have shaped, and continue to impact upon, the US-Sri Lanka relationship, giving a very definite set of parameters within which the US is prepared to accommodate the Sri Lankan state. Ultimately, the question of whether the War on Terror, prosecuted by the administration of President George W. Bush, marked a 'turning point' in the relationship between America and Sri Lanka is answered. The judgment, clearly supported by a broad range of original and, at times peerless, primary sources, is that the US operates a very restrictive foreign policy with Sri Lanka, and that this policy has done very little in material terms, to assist against the LTTE - despite the Bush administration's War on Terror.
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Ravindran, Santhanam. "Secessionist guerrillas : a study of violent Tamil insurrection in Sri Lanka, 1972-1987." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/28269.
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In Sri Lanka, the Tamils' demand for a federal state has turned within a quarter of a century into a demand for the independent state of Eelam. Forces of secession set in motion by emerging Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinism and the resultant Tamil nationalism gathered momentum during the 1970s and 1980s which threatened the political integration of the island. Today Indian intervention has temporarily arrested the process of disintegration. But post-October 1987 developments illustrate that the secessionist war is far from over and secession still remains a real possibility.
This thesis focuses on the phenomenon of Tamil armed secessionism. To better understand the forces responsible for the armed secessionist insurrection, this, thesis analyzes the preconditions leading to the violent conflict between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese in Sri Lanka. The consistent failure of the political system to accommodate the basic Tamil demands has contributed to the emergence of Tamil armed secessionism. Further, diverse factors have given impetus to the growth of Tamil secessionist movements. However, the three main political actors in the secessionist struggle — the Sri Lankan government, the Indian central government together with the state government of Tamil Nadu and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam — have had a major impact on the vicissitudes of the Tamil secessionist insurrection.<br>Arts, Faculty of<br>Political Science, Department of<br>Graduate
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Coomaraswamy, Tara. "Parliamentary representation in Sri Lanka 1931-1986." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.292662.
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Somasunderam, Ramesh. "British infiltration of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in the nineteenth century : a study of the D'Oyly papers between 1805 and 1818." University of Western Australia. History Discipline Group, 2008. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2008.0229.
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The proposed study is to examine the contribution made by John D'Oyly, a British Civil Servant, to the British acquisition and control of the whole of Ceylon. It is also aimed to examine the history of this period (between 1805-1818) in Ceylon as a part of British colonial expansion in South Asia focusing on the policy of infiltration which was used by the British as a method of expanding and consolidating their power and influence. In The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire, published in 1996, P.J. Marshall submitted that the British had become a major political force on the south east coast of the Indian subcontinent, and had become the real rulers of the wealthy province of Bengal by the end of the eighteenth century. He further submits that the success of the British was mainly due to their ability to infiltrate into the internal politics of local states and kingdoms, and thereby dominate some of these political entities rather than overcome and destroy them by the use of military force. This process of infiltration will be examined in detail in the study of British relations with the Kandyan Kingdom, which was situated in the centre of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and was the only local kingdom then in existence as an independent political entity. The primary documents to be studied are those that relate to the British relations with the Kandyan Kingdom between 1805 and 1818, which covers the career of John D'Oyly as a civil servant working in Ceylon. He was the principal figure used by the British in their dealings with the Kandyan Kingdom, due mainly to his proficiency in the Sinhalese language and his knowledge of the customs and manners of the local people. His official diary, covering between the periods of 1810 and 1815, is one of the major sources of this study, examining the methods of infiltration. What is attempted in this Thesis is to examine this new theoretical approach of infiltration (submitted by P.J. Marshall) to the history of British relations with the Kandyan Kingdom between the periods of 1805 to 1818. This study is associated therefore with giving a new dimension to D'Oyly's work as a civil servant, and also to give a deeper reason for British expansion in Ceylon (as much as in Asia) in the context of the broader British strategic objectives. It strives to give a new meaning to the primary documents available in studying British Kandyan relations, as a part of the successful political expansion of the British in India and Asia.
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Coperahewa, Harison Sandagomi. "The politics of language in colonial Sri Lanka, c.1900-1948." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.611501.
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Ekanayake, Ekanayake Mudiyanselage. "The imapcts of trade policy reforms on the Sri Lankan economy." FIU Digital Commons, 1996. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3123.
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This dissertation presents an analysis of the impacts of trade policy reforms in Sri Lanka. A Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model is constructed with detailed description of the domestic production structure and foreign trade. The model is then used to investigate the effects of trade policy reforms on resource allocation and welfare.
Prior to 1977, Sri Lanka maintained stringent control over its imports through rigid quantitative restrictions. A new economic policy reform package was introduced in 1977, and it shifted Sri Lanka's development strategy toward an export oriented policy regime. The shift of policy focus from a restrictive trade regime toward a more open trade regime is expected to have a significant impact on the volume of external trade, domestic production structure, allocation of resources, and social welfare.
Simulations are carried out to assess the effects of three major policy reforms: (1) a devaluation of the Sri Lanka rupee, (2) a partial or a complete elimination of export duties, and (3) a devaluation-cum-removal of export duties.
Simulation results indicate that the macroeconomic impact of a devaluation-cum-removal of export duties can be substantial. They also suggest that the resource-pull effects of a devaluation and a devaluation-cum-export duty removal policy are significant. However, the model shows that a devaluation combined with an export duty reduction is likely to be a superior strategy.
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Kelegama, Saman. "The consequences of economic liberalization in Sri Lanka." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1990. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.306729.
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Muggah, Robert. "Relocation failures : comparing internal displacement and resettlement regimes in Sri Lanka." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.670037.
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Told, Michaela R. "Identity, belonging and political activism in the Sri Lankan communities in Germany." Thesis, University of East London, 2014. http://roar.uel.ac.uk/4005/.
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This research examines the dynamic relationship of Sinhalese and Tamils living in Germany in regards to their home and host country, and seeks to better understand the complexities of their political involvement. The research is based on qualitative research methodologies. The author conducted 30 interviews in Berlin during the period 2006–2008 to inform this research. The research not only provides an overview of the historical contexts of Sri Lanka and Germany, it also links these histories with the processes of outmigration from Sri Lanka and in-migration to Germany. It then continues to analyse the construction of belonging in the context of the Sri Lankan diaspora communities in Berlin. The research examines how far concepts of home, citizenship, nationalism and identity construction shape the sense of belonging of first and second generation Sinhalese and Tamils in Berlin. Finally, it analyses the ways the members of the Sri Lankan diaspora communities engage in economic, political, social, cultural and virtual activities in the home and host country, and how far these activities shape belonging and are politically motivated. The research also considers and studies the gendered nature of belonging and transnational political practices. The research uniquely combines the study of the Tamil diaspora with the study of the Sinhalese diaspora in Berlin. It allows new insights into the complex and multiple constructions of belonging and identity and into the interplay of gender, ethnicity and generations, and it highlights the importance of political activism in the conceptualization of belonging.
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Said, Maurice. "People, place, and politics : everyday-life in post-tsunami coastal Sri Lanka." Thesis, Durham University, 2015. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/11259/.
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This thesis emerges from a critical event; the Asian tsunami of 26th December 2004. It takes an analytical approach to narratives of everyday life events in two coastal communities in southern Sri Lanka. The villages of Po and Thomale, were both severely affected by the tsunami. They received varied and contrasting outside attention and aid in the aftermath of the disaster as a consequence of their different geographic and social characteristics. The thesis draws on my extended contact with these two communities over almost a decade, in the beginning as an aid worker, and later as a field-researcher. This extended contact has enabled me to explore the transformations in social and spatial organisation in the two communities, from the immediate aftermath of the tsunami up to the present day. Whilst Po benefited from numerous projects, aid, and development, as a result of its tourism and capital-generating potential, the fishing village of Thomale was largely side-lined. The characteristics of Po, and the changes that took place post-tsunami, promoted ‘outsider’ driven development and the appropriation of local land, by both foreign and Sinhalese entrepreneurs. The thesis answers two key questions: a) what strategies have locals developed to counteract this uninvited intrusion into their community? And b) how have the events and developments that have transpired as a result of the tsunami, affected locals’ ‘sense of place’ and their social relations? In tackling these questions, I explore local interpretations of kin and community, the role of kin-based factions, and the subsequent reconfiguration of a sense of place around novel kin-based social networks. Narratives of place are also explored, and in this context the thesis outlines how ritual is utilised to voice individual and communal concerns over the changing face and politics of place, as well as exploring violent conflicts that arise as a result of seemingly misplaced power relations, and identity. Ultimately, this thesis presents a segment of an on-going narrative of the relationship between people, politics and place in the aftermath of a disaster.
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Samarasinghe, Nimesh. "Drug policy-making in Sri Lanka 1984-2008 : people, politics and power." Thesis, Middlesex University, 2017. http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/21500/.
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Policy analysis has not been a part of mainstream Sri Lankan research or academic tradition, and hence there exists a lack of research on policy studies in Sri Lanka. Given also a paucity of research on illicit drug use and contemporary drug policy, this research study generated and analysed a body of evidence about the response to drug misuse and its related policies in Sri Lanka between 1984 and 2008. As the subject of drug policy can be viewed through a variety of perspectives, this thesis adopted a multi-disciplinary approach. It drew on ideas, theories, concepts and research from a variety of social science disciplines such as sociology, political science, international relations, public administration and social policy and included an historical approach to understanding policy development. The study provides an informed narrative describing the rationale for the development of Sri Lanka’s drug policies, their course and outcome and the roles of the various actors, institutions, organisations and interest groups already established, or which came into existence to respond to drug misuse. This shows how, and why, particular policies are shaped and influenced by the actors, institutions and organisations, and by particular discourses. The conceptual foundations for this study were epistemic community theory, stakeholder analysis and policy transfer theory; and the thesis will seek to explain policy in changing contexts. Semi-structured key informant interviews and documentary analysis were the main research methods employed. The analysis revealed that external influences, stakeholder dynamics, consensus in policy approaches, and moral frameworks have combined to sustain a criminal justice model to the management of drug problems and to ward off attempts to introduce a system with a stronger focus on treatment and public health. This study demonstrates that the interests of stakeholders and their relative power significantly influenced the legitimisation of consensual knowledge diffused by epistemic communities which underpinned policy outcomes.
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Westerberg, Isabella. "A case study of the relationship between journalism and politics in Sri Lanka." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för journalistik, medier och kommunikation (JMK), 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-72407.
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This bachelor thesis is conducted as a Minor Field Study (MFS) in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between journalism and politics from three questions at issue: 1) What is the role of media according to the journalists? 2) How do journalists work with political reporting in the Sri Lankan print media? 3) How does print media and politics correspond to each other in Sri Lanka?. The theoretical framework consists of theories onmedia systems, democracy models, the notion of the public sphere, media during elections and types of regulations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 informants, both editors and journalists, at eight different editorial offices. The newspapers at which the informants were employed were either state-owned or privately owned. The qualitative material was transcribed and analysed using thematisation and meaning concentration to reveal patterns, attitudes and opinions. The analysis is divided into two major sections; 'Media's Role in the Society' and 'Media and Politics'. The first section investigates the first question at issue. Informing and educating people are valued as important responsibilities amongst the informants. Media is considered to be powerful in terms of affecting both people and politicians, although, some reservations are made. The second section examines the second and third questions at issue. The ideal execution of political reportage includes notions of neutrality, fairness, balance and unbiased reporting. In reality this is not necessarily accomplished. The state newspapers seem to report on behalf of the government in a positive and uncritical way. Private newspapers consider themselves to be more independent, but political ties and restrictions can disable their independence. Tendencies towards clientelism, political parallelism and instrumentalization are noted in the media environment. Sensitive, political news is often self-censored by journalists due to fear of consequences. In 'Conclusions and Discussion' the questions at issue are connected to each other in an attempt to discuss the complex relationship between journalism and politics in Sri Lanka.
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Bullion, Alan James. "India, Sri Lanka and the Tamil crisis, 1976-1990." Thesis, University of Southampton, 1994. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.240258.
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Mylvaganam, Kumar. "Political risk, instability and international tourist development in a Third World country." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.249818.
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Rasaratnam, Madurika. "Tamils and the nation : India and Sri Lanka compared." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2012. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/511/.
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This dissertation examines the divergent trajectories of ethnic and national politics in the Tamil speaking regions of India and Sri Lanka. Despite comparable historical experiences and conditions, the south Indian Tamil speaking areas were peaceably accommodated within a pan-Indian framework whilst Sri Lankan politics was marked by escalating Tamil-Sinhala ethnic polarisation and violent conflict. The dissertation explains these contrasting outcomes by setting out a novel theoretical framework that draws on the work of Reinhart Koselleck and his analysis of the links between concepts and political conflict. It argues that in the era of popular sovereignty the nation and ethnicity have become central and unavoidable concepts of political order, but concepts that can be deliberately constructed through political activity in more or less inclusive ways. Setting out the conceptual connections between the nation, ethnicity and popular sovereignty, the dissertation shows how the conceptual tension between a unified national identity / interest and ethnic pluralism becomes a central and unavoidable locus of political contestation in the era of popular sovereignty. Tracing the politics of ethnicity and nationalism in India and Sri Lanka from the late nineteenth century to the late 1970’s, the analysis shows that the accommodation of Tamil identity within Indian nationalist frameworks and the escalation of Tamil – Sinhala ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka cannot be linked to differences in ethnic demography, political system, historical experiences or the structure of economic incentives. It reveals instead that these divergent outcomes are best explained as effects of contingent and competitive processes of political organisation and mobilisation through which deliberately more or less ethnically inclusive national identities are asserted, established and then contested.
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Orjuela, Camilla. "Civil society in civil war : peace work and identity politics in Sri Lanka /." Göteborg : Göteborg university, 2004. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb400665147.
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DeVotta, Neil. "From linguistic nationalism to ethnic conflict Sri Lanka in comparative perspective /." Access restricted to users with UT Austin EID Full text (PDF) from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International, 2001. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/fullcit?p3031040.
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Heslop, Luke Alexander. "Making of the merchant middle class in Sri Lanka : a small town ethnography." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/15945.
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This thesis is an ethnographic study of middlemen and business families in a commercial town in central Sri Lanka. What I present is based on almost two years of ethnographic fieldwork, in which I followed entrepreneurial families as they started and developed various businesses, built new homes, found suitors for their children, extended their networks of effective social relations, and campaigned for political office. At the heart of the town, and at the centre of the project, is Sri Lanka’s largest wholesale vegetable market. Through an exploration of vegetable selling, I examine various types of work that transcend the boundaries of the market itself: the work of kinship within business families, in particular dealing with extending families and the task of producing new homes, the work of belonging and status among merchants, and the work of politics in a merchant town. These themes are explored in three ethnographic settings – in the households of business families, at work in the vegetable market, and at social and political gatherings. My account of the activities of merchants and merchant families in Dambulla engages and builds upon a body of anthropological literature on the production of kinship, class, and politics in Sri Lanka against the backdrop of a much broader set of social transformations that have shaped Sri Lanka’s tumultuous post-colonial modernity; notably the war and development, economic and agrarian change, and Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism. The thesis provides new empirical data from ethnographic research into under researched areas of Sri Lankan social and cultural life, such as everyday domesticity and male sociality, as well as life and work in a small town in rural Sri Lanka. The ethnographic material also draws on theories from economic anthropology and economic sociology in its analysis. While some of the bigger questions in the thesis address identity and belonging among merchants, as well as the cultural implications of material change; throughout the thesis I also explore what goes on in houses, which relationships matter, how hierarchies are maintained and circumvented, how people make deals, leverage influence, protest, pursue strategies to get ahead, and transpose local issues onto broader political spheres. This, I argue, is the work that goes into the making of the merchant middle class.
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Challam, Sheetal Laxmi. "The making of the Sri Lankan Tamil cultural identity in Sydney /." View thesis View thesis, 2001. http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20030530.153659/index.html.
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Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2001.<br>A thesis submitted for the degree of Master of Arts (Honours), School of Humanities, University of Western Sydney, 2001. Bibliography : leaves 69-72.
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Åkebo, Malin. "The Politics of Ceasefires : On Ceasefire Agreements and Peace Processes in Aceh and Sri Lanka." Doctoral thesis, Umeå universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-79176.
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In recent decades we have seen an increase in peace processes aimed at solving armed conflicts through peaceful means. The often fragile characteristics of such processes and the settlements that they produce underline the essential importance of improving our understanding of the dynamics at play in transitions from war to peace. This thesis aims to contribute to this overarching objective by analysing ceasefire agreements in relation to peace processes in two protracted intrastate armed conflicts: Aceh, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. In the scholarly literature, ceasefire agreements are often assumed to create momentum due to their ability to pave the way to a peaceful solution. At the same time, it has also been suggested that ceasefires can influence conflict dynamics in negative ways. Although there are many unanswered questions about ceasefire agreements in contemporary peace processes, few studies have been devoted to systematic and in-depth analysis of how ceasefire agreements can be characterized and analysed in relation to peace processes in protracted intrastate conflicts. This thesis, which is based on written documents and on interviews conducted during four research trips to the region, contributes to filling this research gap by presenting comparative case studies of Aceh and Sri Lanka. The point of departure in the study is a process-oriented, conflict dynamics approach and a view that war-to-peace transitions require changes in the conflicting parties’ attitudes, behaviours and relationships. I analyse and compare ceasefire agreements by looking at their initiation, form and content, and by examining their implementation and the unfolding of the processes. I identify six key factors in the literature that can influence the conflicting parties’ attitudes, behaviours and relationships. I then use these factors to analyse ceasefire agreements in relation to the dynamics of the broader peace processes. In this thesis I show how these key factors – including issues of recognition, trust, whether the parties’ claims are met, international involvement, contextual changes and intra-party dynamics – have mattered. I also show that context is important for understanding how and why they have mattered. The results suggest that ceasefire agreements can facilitate war-topeace transitions; however, it also illuminates challenges and the risk that such agreements can be counter-productive in the context of intrastate conflicts. The study also shows that ceasefire agreements have a historical legacy, as illustrated by their impact on subsequent interactions and agreements, and it underlines the symbolic politics of ceasefires in asymmetrical intrastate conflicts. The thesis ends with a number of propositions, among others that ceasefire agreements tend to become more comprehensive over time and that power struggles and developments within the conflicting parties are important for understanding ceasefire agreements in relation to contemporary peace processes.
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Mubarak, Kamakshi N. "Everyday networks, politics, and inequalities in post-tsunami recovery : fisher livelihoods in South Sri Lanka." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2011. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:6140f40d-9b68-4148-b62e-a3d8d9bdc646.
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The aim of this thesis is to explore how livelihoods are recovering in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka through the lens of the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework and the social networks approach—methods of inquiry that have gained considerable impetus in livelihoods research. The study is conducted with reference to two tsunami-affected fisher villages in the Hambantota District, Southern Province. It employs a qualitative ethnographic methodology that examines narratives emerging from households, local officials of government and non-government organizations, office bearers of community-based organizations, local politicians, village leaders, and key informants. Focus is on evaluating how particular roles, activities, and behaviour are given importance by these groups in specific post-tsunami contexts and how these aspects relate to broader conceptualizations of social networks, informal politics, social inequality, and ethnographic research in South Asia. The findings support four major contributions to the literature. First, social networks are significant as an object of study and a method of inquiry in understanding livelihoods post-disaster. Second, paying heed to varied forms of informal politics is critical in post-disaster analyses. Third, the concept of intersectionality can extend and improve upon prevailing approaches to social inequality in disaster recovery. Fourth, ethnographic research is valuable for understanding everyday networks, informal politics, and change in South Asia. Collectively, these findings present a human geography of post-tsunami livelihoods in Sri Lanka, where networks, politics, and inequalities, which form an essential part of everyday livelihoods, have been reproduced in disaster recovery. The thesis constitutes a means of offering expertise in the sphere of development practice, highlighting internal differentiation in access to aid as a key issue that needs to be identified and systematically addressed by policymakers and practitioners.
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Ganeshamoorthy, Murugesu. "The political economy of trade liberalization in developing countries : the Sri Lanka case /." Saarbrücken : Verl. für Entwicklungspolitik Saarbrücken, 2003. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb39037302f.
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England, Martha Elizabeth. "Ethnic Conflict and Contemporary Social Mobilization: Exploring Motivation and Political Action in the Sri Lankan Diaspora." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/35026.
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Members of the diaspora are conflict actors with an agency that is important to include in conflict theories and analysis of international relationships. Scholarship suggests its origins, and thereafter changes in the conflict cycle effect decision-making and mobilization in the diaspora, but the conditions and mechanisms that inform these processes are undertherorized. The Sri Lankan conflict and its Toronto based diasporas are used to explore processes of diasporization and mobilization in the context a changed political landscape. A series of semi-structured interviews and a short survey asks respondents to assess their motivations for mobilization. The comparative work is within and between ethnic groups. New Institutionalism underscores this project. Butler’s (2001) epistemology, Brinkerhoff’s (2005) identity-mobilization framework, the political process model and insights from the New Social Movement literature are used to situate politicized identities and political activism directed toward the homeland. Attention is paid to factor processes.
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Wright, Will. "Living with the tsunami : contested knowledges, spatial politics and everyday practices in South East Sri Lanka." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2015. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/9662/.
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The thesis offers an ethnographic account of the ongoing legacies of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, focusing explicitly on communities in Arugam Bay, South East Sri Lanka. It provides empirical evidence that the tsunami should not be considered ‘over’ or an ‘event’ confined to the past, but instead that it is ongoing, shaping everyday life. The thesis argues that ongoing experiences of the tsunami are not equal, and it unpicks some of the relationships that shape these inequalities, specifically with regards to knowledge production in relation to the disaster. In doing this, it highlights the contested geographies surrounding the area. The thesis presents three overlapping ways in which the tsunami continues to be experienced in everyday life: through its spectacularisation and commodification; through the practices of (I)NGOs; and through the lived coastscape. Informed by literature that seeks to understand disasters and places ‘on their own terms’, the thesis develops the concept of ‘communities of practice’: a theory of practice which highlights the contextual nature of practices in everyday life, emphasising that they are both influenced by discursive and embodied knowledges, and in turn, produce knowledges. This term is used heuristically to explore the tsunami’s legacies, and highlights the ways in which specific knowledges are produced and contested in the area. The thesis focuses specifically on four key communities of practice: fishing; tourism; surfing; and researching. These are central to the production of everyday life and hence embodied knowledges of the tsunami, and are therefore present throughout the whole thesis. Running alongside this are a number of themes: the agency of the more-than-human, specifically the sea; memory and memorialisation of disaster; and broader theories of space and place. These are mobilised to argue that people continue to live with the tsunami as a part of everyday life.
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Senaratne, Jagath P. "Tamil secessionist insurrection and counterinsurgency in Sri Lanka, 1977-1994 : an analysis of government policies." Thesis, University of Northampton, 2014. http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/8828/.
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Samaranayake, S. V. D. Gamini. "Political violence in the Third World : a case study of Sri Lanka, 1971-1987." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2732.
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Political violence in Sri Lanka is not a unique phenomenon. It is a prevalent tendency in many countries of the Third World. Sri Lanka, since 1971, has experienced a sharp escalation of political violence which renders it suitable as a case study of insurgency and guerrilla warfare in developing countries. The author's major thrust is a comparative review the causes, patterns, and implications of the leftwing Insurrection of 1971 and the Tamil guerrilla warfare up to the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in June 1987. This thesis highlights the salient socio-economic and political factors, underscoring the view that ethnicity is the impetus behind the continuing turmoil in Sri Lankan society. The author's main hypotheses are that the Insurrection of 1971 as well as the subsequent Tamil guerrilla warfare were pre-planned and well-organised, and that the politically violent organisations in Sri Lanka were mainly a result of the emergence of new social forces which came about due to socio-economic and political transformations. The analysis begins with a review of the theories of political violence. Of these theories Huntington's theory of modernisation relates more closely to the origin of the political violence movement in Sri Lanka. The awakening of the earliest guerrilla group, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (J. V. P. ), in 1971 lay deeply rooted in socio-economic and political factors. The emergence of the Tamil guerrilla organisations stemmed from the long-standing competition between the Sinhala majority and the minority Tamils for limited socio-economic resources and exclusive political powers. The study shows that the socio-economic background of the leaders and members were diverse and often paradoxical, if not at odds to the groups' goals. The ethno-nationalist ideologies, strategies and tactics of the guerrilla organisations, instiled group consciousness and goaded otherwise ordinary citizens to commit political violence. The pattern of political violence in Sri Lanka was a highly emotive expression of anti-establishment and secessionist convictions on the part of the guerrillas. Finally, the study proposes politico-economic reforms rather than military options to cope with the problem of political violence in Sri Lanka.
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Kouassi, Koffi Rene Yves. "When and How Does Reconciliation Work? A Comparative Study of South Africa and Sri Lanka." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2013. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/648.
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How could citizens trust a new regime after being oppressed by the previous one? How could citizens forgive their neighbors who yesterday were executioners, used by the previous government, to commit atrocities (Halpern and Weinstein, 2004)? How could people ever feel safe in their own country after being traumatized by civil wars and human rights violations? Is there a political process that could help countries transition from an authoritarian regime to a democratic one and consolidate that democracy? This thesis argues that reconciliation commissions are the answer to all these questions. It also argues that they could be the middle step between peace and democracy-building. However, there are some necessary and sufficient conditions that need to be satisfied.
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Smith, Janel. "Civil society, human security, and the politics of peace-building in victor's peace Sri Lanka (2009-2012)." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2013. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/937/.
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This thesis aims to expand scholarship on civil society and peace-building through exploration of civil society’s experiences, perspectives, and practices in relation to the politics of peace-building and human (in)security in instances of victor’s peace, using post-war Sri Lanka as case study. It adopts Human Security as an analytical approach calling attention to insecurities operating on and through Sri Lankans but also the nature of power dynamics underlying these insecurities based on the subjective and political nature of ‘peace’ itself. The thesis contributes conceptually and empirically to knowledge of the operation of victor’s peace and its implications for civil society in peace-building. This thesis’s central contention is that acts of securitization and governmentality carried out by Sri Lanka’s central governmental elite within and enabled by the victor’s peace have constricted spaces for civil society to articulate alternatives or engage in critical dialogue within the political process fostered under the victor’s peace. This study, thus, questions romanticized notions of the potentiality of ‘local’ resistances to shift structural inequalities and power asymmetries in victor’s peace. At a disciplinary level, the thesis also deepens knowledge, first, on civil society as complex and contested sphere. It argues that to conceptualize civil society as homogenous or inherently altruistic risks drastically oversimplifying its highly diffuse nature and politics within the sector in which certain actors may benefit within the victor’s peace and engage in ‘peace’-building activities in order to both capitalise on those benefits and sustain the victor’s peace. Second, the thesis addresses the nexus between civil society and peace-building, and specifically the politics of peace-building, in the victor’s peace. In not being constrained by negotiated peace settlement it asserts that, as in Sri Lanka, instances of victor’s peace can quickly transition into repressive environments. Here it is unlikely that civil society, despite innovative methods of exercising agency, can significantly alter the trajectories of the ‘peace’, and further that those civil society actors that support the victor’s peace may seek to exploit the benefits they gain from it at the expense of the human security of others. Finally, the thesis asserts that, ultimately, Human Security’s utility may lie not as political agenda that validates external intervention based on a ‘responsibility’ to intervene, but as a conceptual framework for developing deeper understandings of the nature of (in)security and factors driving (in)security at multiple levels of analysis within different articulations or ‘types’ of peace.
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Korf, Benedikt. "Conflict, space and institutions : property rights and the political economy of war in Sri Lanka /." Aachen : Shaker, 2004. http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&doc_number=013221856&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA.
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Samarajiwa, Sesha. "Asian separatist movements: a comparative study of the Tamil Eelamists in Sri Lanka and the Moros of thePhilippines." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1997. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B3195151X.
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Shankar, Jyotsna. "Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Sri Lanka and Cyprus: Avoiding a Stalemate." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2011. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/201.
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By comparing the post-conflict reconstruction patterns of Cyprus and Sri Lanka, it is possible to evaluate what was or was not effective in the Cyprus case and how these lessons may be applied to Sri Lanka. Considering the underlying similarities of the two islands’ respective conflicts, the focus determining the best course of action for Sri Lanka, so that it does not face the same stalemate situation as Cyprus. The recommended policy contrasts with the consociationalist models proposed for Cyprus, and is instead based on the unique Basque model of autonomy.
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Kamil, Asad M. N. M. "Some aspects of the political and commercial history of the Muslims of Sri Lanka, with special reference to the British period." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/19003.
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Tennakoon, Kadupitige Upalinie Ajitha. "General equilibrium analysis of Sri Lanka's trade liberalization policy options." Thesis, University of Auckland, 2004. http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3120046.
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Sri Lanka's trade regime has been gradually liberalized over the last two decades with the aim of deeper integration into the global economy. The purpose of this study is to present a quantitative assessment of the impacts of major unilateral, regional and multilateral trade liberalization on Sri Lanka, and rank the trade policy options in terms of their welfare effects. This study contributes to the empirical literature on trade liberalization. The Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model is used to analyze the welfare effects of trade liberalization in a multi-country, multi-sector general equilibrium framework. The results show that if Sri Lanka implements the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), while maintaining 15 percent external tariffs for the rest of the world, this combined policy would provide the highest welfare gain to Sri Lanka. The SAFTA by its own would provide the second-highest ranked gain from the trade reforms due to the benefits of preferential access to the large SAARC market. The third-highest ranked policy option comes under the unilateral reduction of import tariffs to 15 percent scenario. As results indicate, the Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ILFTA) offers the fourth-highest policy option for Sri Lanka. Finally, the phasing-out of MFA on Textiles and Clothing under the Uruguay Round Agreement, rank as the fifth-highest policy option for Sri Lanka. Thus, regional trade liberalization is far more preferable to unilateral and multilateral liberalization. However, as the GTAP model permits, these rankings based on only to the static welfare gains, ignoring the dynamic effect of trade liberalization. In addition, the gravity model has been employed to examine the determinants of Sri Lanka's bilateral trade flows with her selected trading partners, in order to sort out the influence of geographical proximity versus preferential trading policies in creating a regional concentration in trade. Our results confirm the validity of geographical factors such as proximity and cultural familiarity, as determinants of Sri Lanka's trade with neighbouring countries. They suggest that the selected trading partners are “natural trading partners” of Sri Lanka.<br>Subscription resource available via Digital Dissertations only.
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de, Silva Purnaka Lohendra. "Political violence and its cultural constructions representations & narrations in times of war /." [S.l. : Amsterdam : s.n.] ; Universiteit van Amsterdam [Host], 2000. http://dare.uva.nl/document/83697.
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Leathard, Brian. "The Reverend A.G. Fraser : his ecclesiastical, educational and political activities in Ceylon, 1904-1924." Thesis, Loughborough University, 1990. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/32910.
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Alek Fraser spent most of his adult life in the world of education in the British colonies. His tenure of office as Principal of Trinity College, Kandy, one of Ceylon's most prestigious schools for boys, ran from 1904 to 1924 and covered a period of immense educational, societal and political change. Fraser's own vision of his task was to create an environment in which indigenous Christianity would develop within the island. For Fraser the whole future of the colony depended upon the success of this venture, the creation of a truly Eastern nation rooted in an indigenous leadership committed to Christianity.
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Aponso, Drene Terana. "A political biography of Don Stephen Senanayake, (1931-1952) : the farmer Prime Minister of Sri Lanka." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.619855.
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Haug, Marit. "The intervention strategies of humanitarian agencies in a complex political emergency : the case of Sri Lanka." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2001. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/1639/.
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This research attempts to answer the question of how humanitarian agencies engage with the combatants in a complex political emergency. The thesis has been designed as a case study of four non-governmental organisations, two Norwegian and two British, which have been working in Sri Lanka in the ongoing war. I focus on the period from 1995-1998 and build mainly of interview data with agency staff. Drawing on research literature on non-governmental organisations, I identify three roles which agencies can play in a complex political emergency: service delivery, advocacy and institution building. Ways in which agencies combine these roles are analysed, both in terms of their strategies in relation to actors in their environments, particularly the government and the LTTE, and in terms of the organisational challenges involved. When agencies move beyond a service delivery role issues relating to neutrality and impartiality often arise. Research literature on humanitarian assistance is applied to analyse how humanitarian agencies operationalise neutrality and impartiality and ways in which the agencies may be drawn into the conflict dynamic. My theoretical framework is organisational theory and, more specifically, research literature on organisations and their environments, and organisational strategy. In particular, I explore aspects of this literature which deal with situations in which organisations are subjected to pressure from their environments. This framework is then applied to identify the sources and types of constraints which agencies operate under and agency responses to these constraints, as well as the ways in which organisations develop strategies for managing their environments. I conclude that it is possible for agencies to combine different roles, but that in doing so, foreign humanitarian agencies have to actively manage their environments in order to ensure that their actions are perceived as legitimate by actors in the country in which they work.
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Walton, Oliver. "Negotiating war and the liberal peace : national NGOs' legitimacy and the politics of peacebuilding in Sri Lanka, 2006-7." Thesis, SOAS, University of London, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.567720.
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Whetstone, Crystal M. "Nurturing Democracy in Armed Conflicts through Political Motherhood: A Comparative Study of Women’s Political Participation in Argentina and Sri Lanka." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1595499962357242.
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Wickramasinghe, D. W. Ananada. "A cultural political economy of business strategy in a developing country context : the case of the Sri Lankan tea industry /." [St. Lucia, Qld], 2004. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe18070.pdf.
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Korf, Benedikt [Verfasser]. "Conflict, Space and Institutions : Property Rights and the Political Economy of War in Sri Lanka / Benedikt Korf." Aachen : Shaker, 2004. http://d-nb.info/1172616086/34.
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Kanold, Erica. "Life is unfair – but not without reason : A field study of Sri Lankan women’s struggle for equal political representation and influence." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-412805.
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This study investigates resistance against female local government politicians in Sri Lanka during their first year and a half as members of local government councils, as a result of the 25 % gender quota introduced in 2018. Further, the study investigates these newly elected female politicians’ perceived ability to influence local government politics; experienced substantive representation. Through a minor field study, in-depth interviews were conducted to examine forms of resistance and perceived political influence of these newly appointed women. Several types of resistance were found and divided into three categories; Patronizing Behavior from Male Politicians; the Dispute Between Elected and Appointed Women; Public Distrust. Some evidence of the mandate effect and the label effect were detected, further hampering substantive representation. The study concludes that despite a significant increase in descriptive representation, substantive representation was not necessarily experienced by the interview subjects. Further studies are encouraged to deepen the understanding of the resistance towards appointed female politicians in Sri Lanka, and moreover the problematic effects of the implementation of gender quotas in highly unequal states.
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Foster, Yolanda Margaret. "Sinhala Buddhist nationalism, from revivalism to militant political ideology : the struggle to shape public culture in Sri Lanka." Thesis, SOAS, University of London, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.406759.
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Paramanathan, Mathivathana. "Peace Negotiations of Sri Lankan Conflict in 2000-2006 : The Ceasefire Agreement Facilitated by Norway is at Stake." Thesis, Jönköping University, JIBS, Political Science, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-758.
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<p>The objective of the thesis is to study the Sri Lankan negotiation process during 2000-2006 sponsored by the Norwegian facilitation and further to analyse the major constraints hin-dering a final solution.</p><p>The stated purpose is analysed by studying both primary and secondary materials such as official documents, research and newspaper articles. One of the major findings of the thesis is that the Norwegian facilitation has not been very effective mainly due to both domestic and international political developments in recent years. In the case of domestic politics, the Sri Lankan political arena has a tradition of political crisis which is mainly a result of the two major Sinhalese parties fighting for power. These parties have been blocking any sus-tainable solution for Tamil demands while focusing on their political power.</p><p>Furthermore, international attitudes towards the warring parties are found to have had a huge impact on the Sri Lankan peace process during the studied period. Since one of the major constraints in the negotiation process appears to be that the Government of Sri Lanka seems to have adopted the international “realpolitik” on its domestic issue in the name of the war on terror. This political strategy may further inflate the already existing na-tionalism among the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority and thus may intensify the conflict.</p>
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Johansson, Rebecka. "Internally displaced persons remaining in camps : A case study of internally displaced persons in Sri Lanka." Thesis, Karlstad University, Faculty of Social and Life Sciences, 2004. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-472.
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<p>ABSTRACT</p><p>Internally displaced persons remaining in camps</p><p>- who are they, why do they stay?</p><p>A case study of internally displaced persons in Sri Lanka</p><p>Essay in Political Science C, by Rebecka Johansson, fall 2004</p><p>This essay is a case study of internally displaced persons in camps in the district of Vavunyia in northern Sri Lanka. The main question was; Why do some internally displaced persons remain in camps when many displaced people already have settled elsewhere? The aim of this study was to examine why some people stay in camps even after a ceasefire agreement has been signed and though many people already have settled. The literature on solutions of conflict-induced displacement is not conceptually rich or theoretically exact. Therefore this study also tried to make a model for analysing why some individuals remain in camps. The model is based on the political scientist Robert Dahl theories on “political resources”. The concept used in this essay is “personal resources”. The personal resources examined were social situations and land and property ownerships and political and legal rights. The study assumes from the hypothesis that the remaining people in camps lack these personal resources which are of importance for their ability and motivation to settle outside the camps. The personal resources have been divided into structural and agential factors.</p><p>The result of this study suggests that the given hypothesis was right; the remaining displaced persons lack most of the examined personal resources. Their social situation was characterised by low status, small social network in the place they fled from, low education and unskilled work. A majority of the displaced who remained in the camps were landless. Until recently their legal right to choose settlement was restricted. The only personal resource that the majority of the displaced possessed was the political right to vote. The lack of personal resources affects both the displaced persons’ ability and motivation to find a durable solution.</p><p>Worthy to note is that it is impossible to draw clear distinctions between what is to be seen as agential and structural factors. Landlessness which in the introduction was categorised as a structural factor was proved to also constitute an agential factor as it affects people’s motivation to return.</p><p>The study shows that the circumstances surrounding internally displaced persons are complex and constitute many obstacles to their possibility to find permanent settlements. The most obvious factors, like not having any place to return to and deprivation of the legal rights of choice of settlement, can be the most important explanations.</p>