Current Research.
Thimpu and the APC
Thimpu and the APC – The Making of the War Trap
Sanayi Marcelline
Politics of State Reform Project
International Centre for Ethnic Studies
Seeking Space for State Reform
Seeking Space for State Reform
Consensus and Contradictions in Public Perceptions
Politics of State Reform Project - International Centre for Ethnic Studies
The main objectives of the Politics of State Reform Project were to identify and assess efforts to solve the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka through state reform. The research involved analyzing the structural impediments and politics behind the state reform initiatives and the reasons for their failure to provide a political solution for the ethnic conflict. What made this project unique was the attempt to understand the above from the perspectives of political elites and their constituencies – the citizens or the general public.
Statistical Analysis of Nominations and Representation of Women in Local Government
The requirement to undertake specific efforts to identify gender issues arises because statistics are needed for topics that may be of greater relevance to one sex than the other, and to take into account the fact that policies and programmes may have differential impacts on women and men that therefore need to be monitored separately. Until recently and almost universally, the majority of decision makers involved in identifying data requirements and developing national statistical systems have been men. Thus men’s concerns, needs and lifestyles are better represented in current statistics than women’s.
Politics of State Reform
The ICES Politics of State Reform research project funded by the World Banks Post Conflict Fund commenced on the 1st of June 2009 and was successfully completed on the 23rd of February 2011. The principal aims of this research were to identify and study past attempts at state reform to resolve the ethnic conflict, understand the structural impediments and politics behind these attempts and the reasons for their failure from the perspectives of both the political elites and the subaltern or the ordinary citizen.
The methodology used in this project ranged from the analysis of primary archival data and the study of secondary sources to over 100 qualitative interviews with members of the political elite (representing a wide spectrum of political parties) and a cross section of citizens in 8 provinces of the country. In addition a nation wide survey of 3,500 respondents was carried out to collect quantitative data for descriptive statistics and regression analysis.
The main objective of the project was to learn from past failures and identify the space for future reform in order to influence policy through a dialogue facilitated by a series of seminars with the stakeholders to the project which includes policy makers, practitioners and civil society organizations, academics and peace constituency, i.e. peace support/lobby groups. The feedback received from the stakeholders during the seminars indicated a high level of recognition of the importance of the research findings to the current situation in the country.
The study of political elite perspectives on state reform reveals that the absence of the threat of secession in a post LTTE context is seen by the political leadership representing the ethnic minority communities in Sri Lanka – the ethnic Sri Lankan Tamils, the Muslims and the Up-Country Tamils as a historical moment for the implementation of state reform in the direction of devolution. However, given the strong development drive initiated by the ruling alliance there appears to be the possibility that development and not devolution will be the way forward in post war Sri Lanka. This position is contested by the political elite of the ethnic minorities who, while conceding that development is necessary, see devolution as a parallel process that is required to meet the group rights claims of Sri Lanka’s ethnic minorities. However, apart from entering into political alliances with the Sinhala political leadership, the strategies of ethnic minority political leaders to push for an agenda of political reforms that will expand the social bases of the state remains ambiguous.
At the level of popular perceptions the research identified widespread support among the citizens of all communities for state reform to solve the ethnic conflict, by strengthening power sharing mechanisms through a Provincial Council system with enhanced powers. This trend which was identified in the qualitative interviews was supported by the quantitative data where 60% of Sinhalese, 77% of Sri Lankan Tamils, 84% of Up-Country Tamils and 92% of Sri Lankan Muslims felt that the full implementation of the Provincial Council Act was the solution to the Ethnic Conflict. People from all ethnic groups including 80% of the Sinhalese community surveyed agreed that minorities would continue to have grievances while even 72% of the majority community felt that a return to armed conflict was possible if there was no state reform or a political solution to the ethnic conflict.
The research also provided important insights into popular perceptions and expectations from the state and political representatives. It also provides an analysis of popular perceptions among all ethnic groups about the causes of ethnic conflict including issues of discrimination and minority grievances which are of salience for the development of policies and mechanisms for social inclusion and national integration in a post war context.
Northern Spring (Uthuru Wasanthaya) and Eastern Revival (Negenahira Navodaya)
Long Term Research on Two Development Projects in Post-War Sri Lanka titled Northern Spring (Uthuru Wasanthaya) and Eastern Revival (Negenahira Navodaya)
This study aims to analyze the characteristics and new dimensions of the emerging discourse of development in post-war Sri Lanka with related to the two significant state-led development projects initiated in Northern and Eastern provinces during the last phase of the ethnic civil war, namely Uthuru Wasanthaya and Negenahira Navodaya.
The Law and Beyond: Feminist Responses to Domestic Violence in Sri Lanka
This study which aims to document and analyse responses to domestic violence in Sri Lanka from a feminist perspective will be conducted in two phases:
Phase 1: A nation wide mapping of existing interventions and responses to protect women experiencing domestic violence with a particular focus on counseling and shelters, legal interventions and health sector interventions. This will be done as comprehensively as possible. The mapping will assist in identifying interventions by state and NGO sector, as well as assess the level of concentration of interventions at the district level.
Phase 2: A qualitative study of the initiatives identified in Phase 1 in selected districts. The final selection of the districts will be confirmed following the mapping exercise taking into account the following criteria: urban, rural, war affected and high / low concentration of interventions.
The objectives of the study are :
- To understand qualitatively long term impact on women’s lives and the extent to which oppressive power relations within the family are transformed; (Assess, evaluate and understand the impact of these initiatives in reducing / addressing the problem of domestic violence);
- To assess the distribution of protection initiatives at the district level by NGO /state interventions;
- To identify the gaps / continuing challenges for both NGO and State actors; and
- To contribute towards strengthening linkages between state and non-state players with regard to these issues, and
- To formulate recommendations for the future direction of social and policy initiatives in Sri Lanka.
This study of domestic violence interventions is informed by the understanding that violence against women is a complex phenomenon that takes multiple forms and is rooted in patriarchal power structures, social inequalities and the differing cultural roles of women and men, that preventing and responding to such violence requires a complex and comprehensive approach that intervenes at individual, interpersonal and structural levels. It will also be informed by an understanding that when domestic violence intersects with other forms of disadvantage, particularly class and race/ethnicity, it produces differing experiences of power and powerlessness between and among diverse groups of women and therefore different experiences as well as responses/ resistance to domestic violence.
Principal Researcher : Chulani Kodikara
Research Assistants: Thiagi Piyadasa, Tehani Ariyaratne
Funded by: Women Defining Peace
Period: May 2010 September 2011
Research (Kandy)
ICES Kandy is independent and international in its research, outlook and audience, with a natural emphasis on Sri Lanka and South Asia. Projects are a synthesis of detailed country analyses and broader regional analyses, all placed within the global context.