The recent defeat of the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE), a formerly viscous and effective terrorist organization in Sri Lanka, forces scholars and policy makers to consider what a peaceful, pluralistic, multiethnic, and democratic Sri Lanka may look like in the future. However, to paraphrase the old adage, we must understand the past, or we are doomed to repeat it. Sri Lanka's next steps in this postconflict world must be sensitive to the origins of the intense war that has riddled the nation since 1983.
Asoka Bandarage's book, The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka: Terrorism, Ethnicity, Political Economy, explores the origins of the crisis in Sri Lanka. She rejects several traditional conceptions of conflict in general, and ethnic conflict in particular. Bandarage's main purpose is to move scholars away from the seemingly ubiquitous bipolar model of ethnic conflict. She attempts instead to provide a more nuanced, multipolar understanding of relations between these two communities, as well as the organizations that have played a major role in both war making and peace building in the region. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Bandarage argues that the conflict in Sri Lanka is not an “ethnic” conflict at all, but actually is the outcome of economic contention and global pressures. To this end, Bandarage expands the focus of the conflict from a singular domestic perspective and adds both the regional and international contexts to her analysis.
Bandarage problematizes a series of lenses through which scholars have traditionally investigated ethnic conflicts and their solutions. She reserves particular criticism for scholars of ethnicity who utilize primordialist interpretations of ethnic conflict. This approach to conflict presumes the existence of ancient animosity between ethnic groups, which is often coupled with particular territorial claims, or the creation and defense of ethnic “homelands.” She also critiques scholars and policy makers who emphasize terrorism as the most important aspect of Sri Lanka's decades-old conflict, as well as those who gauge the conflict from the liberal perspective, who often fall into the same old ethnicist trap that the primordialists do. She states, “left-liberals … on the surface appear to present a middle-ground between extremist Sinhala and Tamil nationalisms. However, closer investigation shows that like most nationalists, many left-liberals—Sinhala, Tamil, and international—also subscribe to an ethnically based separatist solution to the Sri Lankan conflict” (p. 22). According to Bandarage, the “separatist solution”—the creation of either a federal Sri Lanka or two separate states—is not only based on misconceptions of Tamil–Sinhalese historical relations, but also will not necessarily result in peace. Bandarage believes that true pluralistic democracy within a unitary state is the best option for peace in Sri Lanka.
Bandarage provides an exhaustive historical analysis of the conflict, particularly focusing on the growth and subsequent importance of the LTTE as a terrorist organization in the northern part of the country. She contends that conflict began as Tamil elites tried to hold on to the privileged status they had attained under British colonialism. Unfortunately, from Bandarage's point of view, the overwhelming importance of the bipolar ethnic interpretation obscures possible points of commonality between Tamils and Sinhalese groups, preventing the formation of long-lasting social or political linkages among and between the two communities. In the second half of the book, Bandarage turns to contemporary Sri Lankan politics, exploring the role of international agencies, states, and donors on the conflict, and tracing the construction and destruction of the last cease-fire brokered by Norway.
Bandarage's analysis raises some interesting theoretical questions regarding the nature of ethnic conflict. Her initial argument, that Sri Lanka is not a bipolar model of ethnic conflict but rather a multipolar model, highlights economic and other inequalities that transcend ethnic lines, and that may present possible points of cooperation in postconflict societies. Moreover, her explanation of the role that international donors or ethnic diasporas can play in exacerbating ethnic tensions shows new pathways to both the creation of, and possible solutions to, ethnic conflict. At times, the author's theoretical contributions are obscured by her empirical analysis. Her decision to provide a chronological description of the civil war, while fascinating to those who know the region, pulls the reader away from the broader theoretical implications of her work. Moreover, although Bandarage describes the contentious party politics within the government of Sri Lanka, and the advent of the violent Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People's Liberation Front) insurgency in the south, her critical gaze is directed more to the LTTE and other Tamils than to the Sri Lankan state. In order for her own argument to hold, Bandarage must thoroughly explore the multiple nature of the state.
Finally, Bandarage's conclusion that postconflict Sri Lanka should maintain a unitary state, which will spread the pluralistic and democratic model of politics from the south to the north, raises questions about both the quantity and quality of democracy present within Sri Lanka. Pluralism does not automatically lead to fair and free democracy. Inculcating democratic norms and institutions throughout the state may prove more difficult than Bandarage would wish. Moreover, is the south as democratic as Bandarage claims? If not, what would this mean for the character of postconflict Sri Lanka?
