Critical Juncture VI: February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA)

Abstract

The episode analysed in this chapter differs from the others in this book, because it was still being played out as this book was being completed. While the selection of this episode allows for the testing of a two-level analysis on current events, the chapter may lack a more definitive sense of closure that is possible in historical cases. However, the contemporary character of the episode allows more latitude for probing inter- and intra-group political dynamics, for example, through direct interviews with observers and actors in Sri Lanka, and through the use of electronic sources of information absent in all previous cases considered in this book.²

This chapter draws on the field work and subsequent report prepared for DFID Sri Lanka in early 2002 (Bush 2002).