Abstract
One of the major objectives of decentralization is to facilitate the administrative machinery of a government to deliver public services efficiently and effectively to all segment of public, including the minority groups living within a state. In a multi-ethnic country, the decentralized administration with specific provisions and institutional arrangements can help to promote and protect the rights and privileges of minorities. However, in Sri Lanka, decentralization has been a contested topic of debate in terms of minority accommodation. This study attempts to access the constitutional and institutional arrangement of ethnic minority accommodation in decentralized administration, the status of their practice, and the related issues in Sri Lanka. The finding reveals that even though Sri Lanka has adopted decentralized administrative system at different levels, but it has failed to accommodate the rights and interests of ethno-linguistic minorities within the system. The study identifies the non-implementation of the constitutional provisions on minority language (Tamil) in administrative affairs as one of the key factors motivated to the minority grievances in decentralized administration in Sri Lanka. It is further identified that the lack of commitment to follow and implement the constitutional provisions and the acts of ethnic discrimination and marginalization in administrative affairs have compelled the minorities to claim and advocate for more institutional and policy reforms in decentralization discourse in Sri Lanka. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n4s1p533
Highlights
From 1950s onwards, decentralization has become one of the most popular subjects in the fields of administration and local governance and has been popularized with different thematic emphasis such as, political independence, regional and local development, good governance, service delivery, conflict management, ethnic accommodation and so on
Administrative decentralization has a conflict reduction and ethnic cohesion rule in plural societies, by allowing minority groups to participate in administrative affairs of development process and in every aspect of political and administrative units at local level
Many political and administrative institutions have been formed at provincial, district and divisional levels through number of constitutional provisions and policy development in order to accommodate the rights and interests of ethno-linguistic minorities, but, still minorities are facing number of issues and challenges with regards to the decentralized administration in Sri Lanka
Summary
There are bulks of literatures based on theoretical and empirical analysis on different perspectives of decentralization. Administrative decentralization has a conflict reduction and ethnic cohesion rule in plural societies, by allowing minority groups to participate in administrative affairs of development process and in every aspect of political and administrative units at local level. As Esman (1997) indicates, in most of the developing countries, ethnic and other minorities are mobilized to defend their collective rights and interests in order to protect and promote their identity, status, economic opportunities, and political power, in competition, with other ethnic communities (mostly with majorities) in opposition to government policies and projects due to their failure to address or accommodate the rights and interests of the minority groups. Politicians, administrators, international actors and mediators identify and advocate decentralization as a tool to accommodate ethno-linguistic, religious or regional minorities and to mitigate or resolve conflicts emerge among groups
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