Sri Lanka's Democratic Transition
Sri Lanka's Democratic Transition

Author: Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the Committee on Foreign Affairs House of Representatives

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2016-12-03

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13: 9781540784964

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Sri Lanka's lengthy and tortuous civil war between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils of the north and east ended in 2009 but the country remains challenged by deep divisions. Sri Lanka's prior leader, President Rajapaksa, steered the country in an authoritarian direction which included allegations of pervasive human rights abuses, rampant corruption and the failure to follow the rule of law. In 2015, the Sri Lankan people chose a new path with the election of President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe. Relations between the U.S. and Sri Lanka under the Rajapaksa government were often strained due in part to human rights concerns and the treatment of the minority Tamil population. We are optimistic that the Sirisena-led government is committed to change and have already begun implementing important reforms. In 2015, the Sri Lankan Parliament passed its nineteenth constitutional amendment to strengthen democratic governance and the government co-sponsored a U.N. Civil Rights Council resolution addressing atrocities committed during the civil war. Secretary Kerry announced a U.S. assistance commitment of $40 million to support comprehensive reforms in Sri Lanka, which the administration hopes will have a significant effect on the trajectory of Sri Lanka's democratic reform and reconciliation process. Closer U.S.-Sri Lankan ties founded in democratic values will facilitate a stronger foundation that will serve as a solid basis for broader cooperation in the Indian Ocean.

Sri Lankas Democratic Transition
Sri Lankas Democratic Transition

Author: United States. Congress

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2017-11-29

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13: 9781981253180

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Sri Lanka's democratic transition : a new era for the U.S.-Sri Lanka relationship : hearing before the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourteenth Congress, second session, June 9, 2016.

Sri Lanka's Democratic Transition
Sri Lanka's Democratic Transition

Author: United States. Congress

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2017-09-06

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13: 9781976148583

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Sri Lanka's democratic transition : a new era for the U.S.-Sri Lanka relationship : hearing before the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourteenth Congress, second session, June 9, 2016.

Post-war Dilemmas of Sri Lanka
Post-war Dilemmas of Sri Lanka

Author: S. I. Keethaponcalan

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-03-14

Total Pages: 325

ISBN-13: 0429602251

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By investigating Sri Lanka as a case study, this book examines whether democracy, compared to authoritarianism, is conducive to post-war reconciliation. The research, founded on primary as well as secondary data, concludes that political systems have little to do with the success or failure of post-war ethnic reconciliation. The Sri Lankan case indicated that post-war reconciliation is more contingent on the readiness of the former enemies to come together. Readiness stems from, for example, satisfaction in the way issues have been resolved, confidence in the other party's intentions, and the compulsion to coexist. If the level of satisfaction, confidence, and the compulsion to coexist are low, the readiness to reconcile will also be low. The end of the war had a profound impact on post-war governance and ethnic relations in Sri Lanka. Hence, the volume provides an in-depth analysis of the factors that led to the military victory of the Sri Lankan government over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009. The chapters delve into the nexus between governance and reconciliation under the first two post-war governments. Reconciliation did not materialize in this period. Instead, new fault-lines emerged as attacks on the Muslim community escalated drastically. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the nature of relations between the Sinhalese and Muslims and the Tamils and Muslims, as well as the nature and causes of post-war anti-Muslim riots.

Democratic Transition in the Muslim World
Democratic Transition in the Muslim World

Author: Alfred Stepan

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9780231184304

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Contributors to this book are particularly interested in expanding our understanding of what helps, or hurts, successful democratic transition attempts in countries with large Muslim populations. Crafting pro-democratic coalitions among secularists and Islamists presents a special obstacle that must be addressed by theorists and practitioners. The argument throughout the book is that such coalitions will not happen if potentially democratic secularists are part of what Al Stepan terms the authoritarian regime's "constituency of coercion" because they (the secularists) are afraid that free elections will be won by Islamists who threaten them even more than the existing secular authoritarian regime. Tunisia allows us to do analysis on this topic by comparing two "least similar" recent case outcomes: democratic success in Tunisia and democratic failure in Egypt. Tunisia also allows us to do an analysis of four "most similar" case outcomes by comparing the successful democratic transitions in Tunisia, Indonesia, Senegal, and the country with the second or third largest Muslim population in the world, India. Did these countries face some common challenges concerning democratization? Did all four of these successful cases in fact use some common policies that while democratic, had not normally been used in transitions in countries without significant numbers of Muslims? If so, did these policies help the transitions in Tunisia, Indonesia, Senegal and India? If they did, we should incorporate them in some way into our comparative theories about successful democratic transitions.

Sri Lanka's Transition to Nowhere
Sri Lanka's Transition to Nowhere

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 34

ISBN-13:

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"Two years into President Maithripala Sirisena's term, Sri Lanka's fragile hopes for lasting peace and cooperation across party and ethnic lines are imperilled. Despite significant achievements in the coalition government's first nine months, progress on most of its reform agenda has slowed to a crawl or been reversed. As social tensions rise and the coalition slowly fractures, it is unclear whether it can push its signature new constitution through parliament and to a national referendum. Neither the president nor prime minister has made a serious attempt to win support for a more inclusive polity or to reform the national security state to tackle the institutionalised impunity that has fed ethnic unrest and harmed all communities. To protect democratic gains, enable lasting reforms and reduce risks of social and political conflict, the 'unity government' should put aside short-term party and individual political calculations and return to a politics of reform and openness"--Publisher's web site.