The Politics of the Socio-Economic Setting

Abstract

Sri Lankans as we observed earlier are a difficult people to govern. They are divided by religion, race, caste, language and region which generate sharp rivalries that are often contained by governments making concessions to the strongest felt pressures at any given moment of time. The pluralised social structure inhibits attempts at refashioning the political system on totalitarian lines since even such a change involves dependence by the ruling elite on a major group or coalition of groups which in turn can provoke strong opposition from the out-groups. It is never possible for a party in office to knit together influential sections of all groups for any long period so as to produce an overall consensus. Efforts to bind peoples on the basis of class and political opinions have also been none too successful.