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The State and the Economy II: Sri Lanka and Nepal

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Abstract

The initial conditions of Sri Lanka and Nepal were different from those of the mainland South Asia at the start of the period. The differences were in their geographical situation and the nature of the political legacy. In common with the rest of the region, both countries went through a stage of state-managed development, with different capacities and consequences. A particular consequence was that regional inequality in both countries acquired an ethnic dimension. The present chapter will discuss the path of statist development in Sri Lanka and Nepal and suggest why the trajectory of economic change could produce this outcome.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The process of state making in the early nineteenth century is described in Sujit Sivasundaram, ‘Ethnicity, Indigeneity, and Migration in the Advent of British Rule to Sri Lanka,’ American Historical Review, 115(2), 2010, 428–452.

  2. 2.

    Tirthankar Roy, ‘The Role of the State in Initiating Development: A Study of Interwar South and Southeast Asia,’ Indian Economic and Social History Review, 33(4), 1996, 374–401.

  3. 3.

    Vijaya Samaraweera, ‘Land, Labour, Capital and Sectional Interests in the National Politics of Sri Lanka,’ Modern Asian Studies, 15(1), 1981, 127–162. An earlier critique of dualism can be found in Asoka Bandarage, Colonialism in Sri Lanka: The Political Economy of the Kandyan Highlands, 1833–1886, Berlin: Mouton, 1983. The term ‘plural society’ in the south and southeast Asian context was apparently first used by J.S Furnivall.

  4. 4.

    Prema-chandra Athukorala and Sisira Jayasuriya, ‘Liberalisation and Industrial Growth: lessons from Sri Lanka,’ in Raghbendra Jha, ed., Economic Growth, Economic Performance, and Welfare in South Asia, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, 102–118.

  5. 5.

    A.K. Sen, ‘Public Action and the Quality of Life in Developing Countries,’ Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 43(4), 1981, 287–319.

  6. 6.

    Surjit S. Bhalla and Paul Glewwe, ‘Growth and Equity in Developing Countries: A Reinterpretation of the Sri Lankan Experience, ‘World Bank Economic Review, 1(1), 1986, 35–63.

  7. 7.

    David Dunham and Sisira Jayasuriya, ‘Equity, Growth and Insurrection: Liberalization and the Welfare Debate in Contemporary Sri Lanka,’ Oxford Development Studies, 28(1), 2000, 97–110.

  8. 8.

    Cited text from Saman Kelegama, ‘Development in Independent Sri Lanka: What Went Wrong?’ Economic and Political Weekly, 35(17), 2000, 1477–1490.

  9. 9.

    Sriyani Dias, ‘Economic Liberalization and the Development of Manufacturing in Sri Lanka,’ Asian Survey, 31(7), 1991, 613–629.

  10. 10.

    See, for example, W.D. Lakshman, ‘The IMF-World Bank Intervention in Sri Lankan Economic Policy: Historical Trends and Patterns,’ Social Scientist, 13(2), 1985, 3–29.

  11. 11.

    Neville Edirisinghe, The Food Stamp Scheme in Sri Lanka: Costs, Benefits, and Options for Modification, Washington D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute, 1987.

  12. 12.

    Mick Moore, cited by Patrick Peebles, ‘Colonization and Ethnic Conflict in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka,’ Journal of Asian Studies, 49(1), 1990, 30–55.

  13. 13.

    Peebles, ‘Colonization and Ethnic Conflict in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka’. Emphasis added.

  14. 14.

    Prema-Chandra Athukorala, ‘Outward-Oriented Policy Reforms and Industrialisation in Sri Lanka,’ Economic Papers, 26(4), 2007, 372–391.

  15. 15.

    Prema‐Chandra Athukorala and Sarath Rajapatirana, ‘Liberalization and Industrial Transformation: Lessons from the Sri Lankan Experience,’ Economic Development and Cultural Change, 48(3), 2000, 543–572.

  16. 16.

    Ronald J. Herring, ‘Economic Liberalisation Policies in Sri Lanka: International Pressures, Constraints and Supports,’ Economic and Political Weekly, 22(8), 1987, 325–333.

  17. 17.

    Robert N. Kearney, ‘Ethnic Conflict and the Tamil Separatist Movement in Sri Lanka,’ Asian Survey, 25(9), 1985, 898–917.

  18. 18.

    Saman Kelegama, ‘Sri Lankan Economy of War and Peace,’ Economic and Political Weekly, 37(47), 2002, 4678–4685.

  19. 19.

    Kishor Sharma and Badri Bhattarai, ‘Aid, Policy, and Growth: The Case of Nepal,’ Journal of Economic Issues, 47(4), 2013, 895–910.

  20. 20.

    Pramod Bhatta, ‘Aid Agency Influence in National Education Policymaking: A Case from Nepal’s ‘Education For All’ Movement,’ Globalisation, Societies and Education, 9(1), 2011, 11–26.

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Roy, T. (2017). The State and the Economy II: Sri Lanka and Nepal. In: The Economy of South Asia. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54720-6_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54720-6_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-54719-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-54720-6

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