This volume summarizes a series of studies undertaken to better understand the current socioeconomic context of the Northern and Eastern provinces in Sri Lanka. Nearly a decade after the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, the Northern and Eastern provinces lag in key social and economic measures. The study was made up of six background studies focused on (i) the provincial economies and economic structures of the North and East; (ii) labor force dynamics; (iii) demographic changes and impacts on vulnerability; (iv) the psychosocial needs of the local population; (v) community and social institutions; and (vi) livelihood trends and impacts of the war on productive assets. These studies were informed by both primary data collection, as well as secondary data sources and literature. The key findings from the assessment show that significant public investments in the Northern and Eastern provinces have resulted in growth and convergence between these provinces and the rest of the country. However, pockets of poverty and deprivation remain across these provinces, and the economic base of the region has yet to fully recover from the impacts of the civil war. Social vulnerabilities were persistent across the Northern and Eastern provinces, and were closely linked with poverty rates. With the demographic impacts of the war, vulnerabilities for women are growing in the region. There was a high rate of psychosocial needs recorded, and evidence that the social fabric has not been fully restored since the war. Citizen engagement, trust, and accountability remain important priorities, alongside economic revival, job creation, and restoring the social fabric and local institutions.

Annotation This book captures the human face of the frontlines, revealing both the visible and the hidden realities of contemporary war, power, and international profiteering in the 21st century.

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.

&Lsquo;If We Don&Rsquo;T Tell Our Stories, Who Will?&Rsquo; They Were Ordinary People&Mdash;Farmers, Fisherfolk, Businessmen, Pensioners, Housewives And School Children&Mdash;Until A Relentless War Machine Invaded Their Lives. These Are Their Stories&Mdash;Stories Of Intense Suffering, But Also Of Great Courage, Resilience And Dignity. Nirupama Subramanian, A Journalist Who Spent Seven Years Reporting The Vicious Face-Off Between Sri Lanka&Rsquo;S Government And The Separatist Ltte, Criss-Crossed The Towns And Villages Of A Beautiful But Ravaged Island To Uncover These &Lsquo;Little Histories&Rsquo; As She Calls Them&Mdash;Of Children Forcibly Recruited Into Tiger Training Camps; Of Parents Waiting For Mass Graves To Reveal Their Bleak Secrets; Of People Fleeing Their Homes In War Zones Only To Become Prisoners In Refugee Camps; Of The Families Of The Missing Who Still Wait And Hope; Of Women In The Maid-Trade Bonded In Virtual Slavery In Foreign Lands. Woven Into These Narratives Are The Larger Stories&Mdash;Of A President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, Elected With A Massive Mandate For Peace But Trapped In A War So Intense That She Was Unable To Make Good Her Promise; And Of Tiger Supremo Vellupillai Prabhakaran, Trapped Too, But In A Cage Fashioned Out Of His Own Egoism And Ruthlessness&Mdash;One He Never Dare Leave. As Sri Lanka Searches For An Elusive Peace, Read This Book To Understand The Price That Sri Lankans Have Paid For A War That Has Raged For Over Twenty Years. &Nbsp;

Located in the war-torn eastern province of Sri Lanka, this book provides a rich ethnography of how Tamil-speaking communities in Batticaloa live through and make sense of a violence that shapes everyday life itself. The core of the book comes from the author’s two-year close interaction with a group of (mainly women) human rights activists in the area. The book describes how the activists work in clandestine, informal ways to support families whose loved ones have been threatened, disappeared or killed and how they build networks of trust within the context of everyday violence. As Sri Lanka faces up to the enormity of the task of ‘post-war reconciliation’, this book aims to create a wider conversation about grief, resistance and healing in the context of violence and its long afterlife.

This encyclopaedia provides a comprehensive overview of major theories and approaches to the study of peace and conflict across different humanities and social sciences disciplines. Peace and conflict studies (PCS) is one of the major sub-disciplines of international studies (including political science and international relations), and has emerged from a need to understand war, related systems and concepts and how to respond to it afterward. As a living reference work, easily discoverable and searchable, the Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies offers solid material for understanding the foundational, historical, and contemporary themes, concepts, theories, events, organisations, and frameworks concerning peace, conflict, security, rights, institutions and development. The Palgrave Encyclopaedia of Peace and Conflict Studies brings together leading and emerging scholars from different disciplines to provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date resource on peace and conflict studies ever produced.

Now in its third edition, Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy remains the definitive source for article-length presentations spanning the fields of public administration and public policy. It includes entries for: Budgeting Bureaucracy Conflict resolution Countries and regions Court administration Gender issues Health care Human resource management Law Local government Methods Organization Performance Policy areas Policy-making process Procurement State government Theories This revamped five-volume edition is a reconceptualization of the first edition by Jack Rabin. It incorporates over 225 new entries and over 100 revisions, including a range of contributions and updates from the renowned academic and practitioner leaders of today as well as the next generation of top scholars. The entries address topics in clear and coherent language and include references to additional sources for further study.