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Sri Lanka’s ‘Liberal’ War

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Aid, Peacebuilding and the Resurgence of War

Part of the book series: Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies ((RCS))

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Abstract

Sri Lanka is one of South Asia’s oldest democracies with 14 general elections since independence and ten presidential elections since 1977. During the 1970s the state transformed from a controlled to a market economy. Yet despite this advancement of a liberal peace, Sri Lanka saw violent civil unrest through the 50s, 60s and 70s and the outbreak of war in 1983. This chapter explains why, tracing the conflict back to the formation of its first political institutions and government. It describes the tensions that emerged between minority Tamils and the Sri Lankan state, and the state’s failure to resolve them. It provides a cautionary tale on the limits of a liberal peace, providing a conflict analysis which outlines ‘the roots causes’ of the conflict, whose remedy is the main objective of peacebuilding. In answer to the question raised in the last chapter of the importance of economic factors in causing the conflict, it seems that they are in fact less important than political grievances. Both democracy and economic liberalism underpin the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict.

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Chapter 2 Sri Lanka’s ‘Liberal’ War

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  1. Sarah Holt
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© 2011 Sarah Holt

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Holt, S. (2011). Sri Lanka’s ‘Liberal’ War. In: Aid, Peacebuilding and the Resurgence of War. Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230306349_3

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