State reluctance towards inclusive policies in post-civil war Sri Lanka

Abstract

This study aims to identify the factors preventing the state from responding in a manner that will avoid future conflict in post-civil war Sri Lanka. After the government ended the separatist struggle of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by bringing the civil war to an end in May 2009, the protracted and destructive 30-year war presented an opportunity for both state and society to learn many useful lessons from the long war. These lessons could have enabled the government to reconstitute the state as an inclusive institution, one in which minorities could also participate to ensure just and equitable development for all Sri Lankans. This study uses a qualitative research approach that involves analysis of critical categories. Findings of this study offer some crucial insights about Sri Lanka’s ethnic politics, particularly, the various factors have influenced the state to avoid inclusive policies. The key factor is the dilemma of post-independent political culture or traditions amongst ruling elites resulted in the avoidance of inclusive policies. This study also reveals some other factors that contestations between different social forces within society, within the state, and between the state and society still prevail in Sri Lanka, hampering the institution of inclusive policies. Further, the paper highlights the failure of India and the International Community to pressurize the state of Sri Lanka to introduce inclusive mechanisms due to international power balance (China factor).