A detailed comparative analysis of electorates in Sri Lanka. It addresses issues that are relevant not only to South Asia but to the developing world in general and will therefore be of interest to specialists and students of South Asia, comparative politics, sociology and anthropology.

This book systematically maps the evolution of the party–voter nexus of the United National Party (UNP) and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). In doing so, it argues that these parties rely mostly on a complex Web of patronage-based networks to mobilise electorates. They employ informal and highly dynamic, loosely knit networks as their organisational structures at the local level. They mainly focus on mobilising voters through local political actors rather than maintaining clear party bases and membership schemes. The study highlights the salience of personalities at the national as well as local levels in forming electoral support for the parties. These individuals exploit their economic, social, and cultural capital to mobilise the most efficient network that would strengthen their party during elections. The study also analyses the emergence of two new coalition centres from within these traditional parties, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), and argues that these parties, though portraying themselves as new, have in fact retained the overall logic of the party–voter nexus by appropriating the organisational schemes and structures of their predecessors.

This volume examines and analyses electoral politics in Sri Lanka through the theoretical framework of manipulation. The following questions guided the study: how do political actors manipulate elections, and what are the salient features of electoral politics in Sri Lanka? Primary and secondary data formed the basis of the analysis, examining eight presidential elections. The research findings indicated that Sri Lankan governments, political parties and political leaders have taken advantage of six types of electoral manipulation, including constitutional tinkering, field fixing, time fixing, vote suppression, process manipulation and resource manipulation. Through a close examination of eight presidential elections, research carried out for the volume found that elections are often associated with violence; presidential elections are mainly a majoritarian affair in which minority communities play only a marginal role; there is a significant gender imbalance, as women’s participation in the electoral process is very limited; despite the presence of a large number of candidates contesting the election, it always remains a two-way race; and amid extensive manipulation and other problems, voter participation tends to be high. This volume will be a valuable resource for students, academics and researchers who focus on democracy, good governance, electoral studies and South Asian politics and history, and will enhance the conceptual foundation of democracy advocates and activists.

At the point of independence in 1948, Sri Lanka was projected to be a success story in the developing world. However, in July 1983 a violent ethnic conflict which pitted the Sinhalese against the Tamils began, and did not come to an end until 2009. This conflict led to nearly 50,000 combatant deaths and approximately 40,000 civilian deaths, as well as almost 1 million internally-displaced refugees and to the permanent migration abroad of nearly 130,000 civilians. With a focus on Sri Lanka, this book explores the political economy of ethnic conflict, and examines how rival political leaders are able to convince their ethnic group members to follow them into violent conflict. Specifically, it looks at how political leaders can influence and utilize changes in the level of economic liberalization in order to mobilize members of a certain ethnic group, and in the case of Sri Lanka, shows how ethnic mobilization drives can turn violent when minority ethnic groups are economically marginalized by the decisions that the majority ethnic group leaders make in order to stay in power. Taking a political economy approach to the conflict in Sri Lanka, this book is unique in its historical analysis and provides a longitudinal view of the evolution of both Tamil and Sinhalese ethnic drives. As such, this interdisciplinary study will be of interest to policy makers as well as academics in the field of South Asian studies, political science, sociology, development studies, political economy and security studies.

The period between 2001 and 2006 saw the rise and fall of an internationally supported effort to bring a protracted violent conflict in Sri Lanka to a peaceful resolution. A ceasefire agreement, signed in February 2002, was followed by six rounds of peace talks, but growing political violence, disagreements over core issues and a fragmentation of the constituencies of the key parties led to an eventual breakdown. In the wake of the failed peace process a new government pursued a highly effective ‘war for peace’ leading to the military defeat of the LTTE on the battlefields of the north east in May 2009. This book brings together a unique range of perspectives on this problematic and ultimately unsuccessful peace process. The contributions are based upon extensive field research and written by leading Sri Lankan and international researchers and practitioners. The framework of ‘liberal peacebuilding’ provides an analytical starting point for exploring the complex and unpredictable interactions between international and domestic players during the war-peace-war period. The lessons drawn from the Sri Lankan case have important implications in the context of wider debates on the ‘liberal peace’ and post conflict peacebuilding – particularly as these debates have largely been shaped by the ‘high profile’ cases such as Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq. This book is of interest not only to Sri Lanka specialists but also to the wider policy/practitioner audience, and is a useful contribution to South Asian studies.

The present book uses Sri Lanka’s failed attempt at negotiating peace with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, to examine the politics of state and market reforms towards liberal peace. Sri Lanka is seen as a critical case that demonstrates key characteristics and shortcomings of liberal peace, vividly demonstrated by internationally facilitated elite negotiations and donor-funded neoliberal development.

Examines the relationship between the ethnic conflict and economic development in modern Sri Lanka.