The Integration of Liberal Democracy in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka between the majority Sinhalese population and the minority Tamil population has grown to become a complex and pressing matter within the country. The election of Mahinda Rajapaksa as president in 2005 furthered these tensions as his administration passed legislation suppressing the Tamils, ultimately leading to the development of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an extremist organization representing the Tamils who support independence from the country. Rajapaksa’s pro-Sinhala Buddhist government greatly appealed to the Sinhalese population, but his administration’s lack of action towards domestic and foreign issues resulted in the election of Maithripala Sirisena, a liberal democratic leader who significantly improved the status of Sri Lanka. Nonetheless, with the prevalence of Buddhist nationalism and the recent election of Rajapaksa’s brother, the economic, political, and social environment within the country has again begun to decline. Thus, given Sirisena’s positive contribution to the country’s affairs, this paper attempts to view the impacts of his government on the Tamil-Sinhalese conflict, foreign relations, and the possible future repercussions of integrating liberal democracy within the government in order to propose a feasible solution to and assess the likelihood of stabilizing the ongoing ethnic conflict.