Sri Lanka: The Repeated Failure of Inclusion Incentives

Abstract

In Sri Lanka, internal conflict has raged for over two decades, involving both a radical movement of nationalist (majority) Sinhalese, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in the south of the country in the early 1980s, and a separatist movement of (minority) Tamils, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in the northeast. The JVP has since largely abandoned its violent tactics and turned to engagement in democratic politics. This chapter, which draws on fieldwork conducted in Sri Lanka in the summer of 2005, thus focuses primarily on negotiations with the latter movement, the LTTE. However, because the JVP is still a political force and remains strongly opposed to peace negotiations, and the small Muslim minority has also objected to what it perceives as exclusion from the peace process, these parties and their interests and behavior are addressed in my discussion of the negotiations. Peace negotiations have largely involved the possibility of a territorial arrangement, such as autonomy or devolution, and constitutional reforms to support any territorial devolution. Less emphasis has been placed on inclusion in future security structures and governance, at least in contrast with other peace negotiations.