Semi-authoritarianism and democracy in Sri Lanka, 2004–2015

• Main Author: Nayomi Field
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Edinburgh Library 2015-12-01
• Series: The South Asianist
• Online Access: http://www.southasianist.ed.ac.uk/article/view/1257

This four-part exploratory essay examines the nature of the state and democracy in Sri Lanka between 2004 and 2015 through the lens of four issues central to the discipline of comparative politics: state formation; economic growth and political development; derailment of democracy; and democratic transition. Section one explores whether the insights found in English-language scholarship about the state and state building hold relevance for the nature of the state in Sri Lanka between 2004 and 2015. The second section inquires into the relationship between economic growth and political development in Sri Lanka. Section three considers the ways in which democracy was compromised during the reign of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime. Lastly, the fourth section investigates whether the 2015 democratic transition from Mahinda Rajapaksa to Maithripala Sirisena was an elite- or mass-driven process.