Sri Lanka & Democracy

Sri Lanka is in the throes of a struggle to save democracy. Growing warfare between the government and Tamil separatists threatens to engulf the entire nation. This research examines how the ethnic divisions in Sri Lanka have affected Sri Lanka politics and society.

Sri Lanka gained its independence in 1948 with hope for a bright future. Its economic and social conditions were quite conducive to the creation of a prosperous nation. Tea, rubber and coconuts-the country's main exports-were valuable commodities on the global market. The international community saw Sri Lanka as a good investment. The new government of Ceylon (as it was called then) was awarded about $350 million in foreign exchange reserves. The quality of life was far better than most other developing nations, with a life expectancy about double that of India. Income per capita was double that of India's as well, and that income was fairly well distributed among the populace. Production of food crops had grown during World War II and continued to grow afterward.

Along with a reasonably healthy economy, Sri Lanka's social system also stood above average in Asia. Education, including higher education, was for the most part free. The nation enjoyed one of the highest literacy rates in the region (60% and rising) and Sri Lankans were generally well fed.

Sri Lanka's early political structure also appeared quite healthy. Independence came relatively bloodlessly in Sri Lanka, an offshoot of the violent s

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tianity and British culture. It did not matter to this elite whether a person was Sinhalese or Tamil. But this elite had grown distant from the general Sri Lanka population. Their religion was different, their culture was different, even their language was different. When the economic situation turned for the worst, the cosmopolitan elite became the target of society's anger and frustration. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike tapped into this popular resentment of the cosmopolitan elite and rode it into power (Tambiah, 1986). Although he studied at Oxford and his father was knighted by the British, Bandaranaike shed his western upbringing and became fluent in the Sinhalese language. He embraced Buddhism and exchanged his western clothing for Sinhalese dress. Bandaranaike preached a new populism, appealing directly to rural interests and the concerns of the increasingly-disgruntled peasantry. The primary villain in this populist movement was Bandaranaike's own elite cosmopolitan class. However, Bandaranaike's populism was grounded just as firmly on ethnic and religious divisions. The Buddhist clergy had long been snubbed by western culture and harbored a great deal of disdain for Sri Lanka's cosmopolitan elite. At the same time, the

Category: Foreign - S