Proefschrift--Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1995. / Bibliogr. p. 392-411. Glossaire. Résumé en néerlandais.

Concerned to comprehend the teaching efficacy of English teachers in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, this thesis investigated contentions by principals, retired teachers and resource personnel that Sri Lankan teachers’ lack of teaching effectiveness (teaching behaviours that influence student learning) accounted for students’ low English attainment; and counter claims by English teachers that their teaching efficacy (beliefs in their abilities to affect student learning) was undermined by classroom and other-related problems. This mixed-method research comprised two stages. In a preliminary study, 298 students and twenty-four teachers from twelve secondary schools participated in a survey designed to understand challenges encountered in the teaching and learning of English. With a similar purpose, thirty-four English lessons involving 320 students and ten teachers were observed. Interviews concerning the aspects underpinning effective English teaching were conducted with five principals, three English resource personnel and three retired teachers. In the main study, sixty-two teachers from thirty-five secondary schools were surveyed and twenty interviewed to identify factors which affected the teaching efficacy of English teachers. Participating schools were categorized vis-à-vis their students’ performance: low-performing and high-performing. Findings support English teachers’ views concerning their teaching efficacy. Teacher perception revealed associations between the lack of teaching efficacy of English teachers in low and high-performing schools, and teacher background/parental duties/self-development, classroom problems and inadequate educational resources. No explicit evidence was found that students’ poor English attainment in low-performing schools was due to their teachers’ lack of teaching effectiveness. Observations showed that students were deprived of external resources which assisted students in high-performing schools to become proficient in English. New insights about Jaffna teachers’ efficacy indicate the need for a more context-specific English language curriculum in Sri Lanka, informed by teachers’ knowledge of their students’ English learning needs at a local level if teaching efficacy and English attainment are to be enhanced.

The aim of this study is to create a better understanding of how preschool teachers in ametropolitan region in Sri Lanka view their opportunities to create quality preschools and alsoidentify factors that affect quality enhancement. Three research questions were created focusingon the preschool teachers’ perceptions of the quality of their preschools, what actions theyimplement to enhance the quality of preschools and what they consider affects their preschools’quality. In order to achieve the aim of the study, interviews were conducted with six preschoolteachers, all from different preschools. The results show that preschool teachers have anapparent positive attitude towards the quality of their own preschools. The actions theyimplement in hope of improving quality are staff meetings, where they plan for the future andenvironmental improvements. Further the results also show that four out of six preschools carryout some part of the Systematic Quality Development Work (SQDW). The factors that theteachers believed influence the quality of preschools included the minimum standards in SriLanka, shortcomings in preschool teacher education and expectations.

This thesis is an attempt to reconstruct the state of society in Ceylon depicted by the Saddharma-ratnavaliya and other contemporary Sinhalese literature - that is, the society of roughly the thirteenth century A.D. Though piecemeal studies have been undertaken by different scholars at different times, hardly any attempts have been made to study, as a whole, the life and institutions of Ceylon. Thus our task is all the more difficult. Many points had to be left undecided owing to lack of evidence, and will have to remain so until further light is shed by future research. In making a study of this period one is made aware of the beginnings of the decline of Sinhalese culture. Whatever the field, whether art, architecture, or sculpture, little development can be seen. Perhaps Ceylon never recovered from the destruction and ruin caused by the alien foe during this period. The Saddharma-ratnavaliya, Pujavaliya, Vi?uddhi- marga-sannaya and Kav-silumina are the sources of our study. Other works of the preceding and succeeding periods have also been examined whenever it was necessary to find corroborative evidence. In this respect, the Maha-vamsa, Cula-vamsa, Saddharmalamkaraya and the inscriptions have proved of immense value and have been liberally quoted in support of our views. The material has been dealt with under different heads for convenience of treatment and the whole thesis is divided into three sections - Political, Religious and Social. It is needless to say that, though the material has been thus presented, in real life there was no such hard and fast compartmentalisation. All spheres of activity were vitally connected with each other and were deeply influenced by religious thought. We cannot speak of an ancient Sinhalese culture without realising how vitally Buddhistic it was. It is our hope that this thesis will prove some contribution to the understanding of the life and institutions of our ancient people.

During November and December 2007 a Minor Field Study was conducted in the southwest of Sri Lanka with the aim of exploring the aspirations and perceptions of freedom and possibilities among a sample of Sri Lankan youth and also how their situation is viewed upon by people in their close surroundings. The aim was also try to discern the main concerns and indicators of unfreedom that in the eye of the informants are viewed as obstacles to development, to personal human development as well as to the development of Sri Lanka as a nation. The theoretical framework that was used as inspirational ground and basis for the formulation of the project, was Amartya Sen’s concept of “development as freedom” and his “capability approach” which focuses on the human potential and what freedom an individual enjoys to convert capabilities into desired functionings or the realization of aspirations. This modern economic theory was tested in this context to find out if it is applicable and relevant in ethnographic development studies. Despite its lack of numerical metrics, the “capability approach” seems very relevant to describe the reality of at least the Lankese youth in this study. As methodology for the qualitative field work, Hadley Cantril’s “aspiration-model” and his “self-anchoring striving scale” was used which provides a simple, easily applicable interview technique for exploring the unique reality of an individual and what it shares or don’t shares with that of others. The results show that there are many strong aspirations among the Sri Lankan youth; aspirations of being a good person that achieve something in life, aspirations of being able to take the best care of the family, to go through a qualitative education and to get a good job with a good salary. Many youth want to go abroad. Of course there are aspirations of peace in the war-torn country. There are concerns and feelings of unfreedom that relate to the unemployment situation, a very difficult economic situation in the country, underdevelopment and inadequate facilities, the ongoing war, and political unfreedom.

The classic theories about naval warfare is something that still influence warfare and naval theories today. In a world that changes so does the warfare, which shows a more asymmetrical character than before. Power asymmetry between actors is something to take into account today, but the history revealse unexpectadly that the weaker actor often stands as the winner. Is the theories of naval warfare that is influenced by a era of decisive battle still valid? Not only has the power asymmetry changed in time but so has the actors, not seldom the weaker actor is of a irregular character in todays naval warfare.The question here is if a theory influenced by theories created for regular conventional forces can explain the war- fare an asymmetric irregular actor carries? The issue this study address is Geoffrey Till ́s theory about Sea Denial and how that can explain the Sea tiger’s warfare against the Sri Lankan navy in the civil war of Sri Lanka. The result of the study shows that Tills theory can explain an irregular asymmetrical con- flict and also confirms that for a weak actor this could be warfare of success.

The aim of this thesis is to provide an objective view of the investment potential of Sri Lanka, including all the important factors that may affect the investment climate and to assess the current investment policy of Sri Lanka and propose some recommendations for improvement. The theoretical part of the thesis is devoted to the impact of armed conflict on the investment environment, it discusses the institutional framework for investment, the legal framework for investment, and investment incentives provided to investors. It also defines the priority investment areas and the main obstacles for the development of investment in the territory. The practical part of the thesis compares the investment potential of Sri Lanka with three selected Asian countries to determine which areas need an improvement, necessary to increase the country's attractiveness for foreign investment. It also evaluates the investment potential of the country in the form of a SWOT analysis and provides recommendations for improvement.

My research analyses issues in the relationships between the state and the market, including the roles of key institutions and organisations and their interactions in the policy and regulatory governance arenas. The findings, based on documentary analysis, focus group discussions, perceptions analysis and in-depth interviews with representative actors in the public policy system in Sri Lanka, focus specifically on the linkages between the country’s institutional endowments, the reform process and regulatory governance; and the role of mental models, path dependence and ideology – specifically that of the donor and local epistemic community – in influencing economic reforms and regulatory governance. The analysis set forth in this thesis draws on Douglass North’s conceptualisation of New Institutional Economics as well as on the conceptualisation of public policy by seminal scholars in the field such as Harold Lasswell, David Easton, Bill Jenkins, Michael Hill and Wayne Parsons. These theoretical constructs are particularly useful in exploring and obtaining a rich understanding of complex institutional and policy processes and relationships, as well as policy outcomes. Moreover, this framework sits well with the interpretivist research philosophy, inductive approach and qualitative research methods which I use to gather “thick” information on privatisation, competition and regulatory governance in Sri Lanka and in Sri Lanka’s telecommunications sector. An overview of the existing literature on privatisation, competition and regulatory governance in general and in the telecommunications sector in particular, points to a paucity of public policy analyses in developing countries. As such, whilst acknowledging the limitations of single case study research in relation to policy transfer, I posit that my research findings do shed light on a number of critical issues that are relevant to scholars and practitioners interested in understanding the policy process in developing countries. My research findings provide a real world illustration of the futility of dichotomising the state and markets; instead, constructs such as policy and regulatory space are more useful than those such as the regulatory state. Incorporating these constructs of policy and regulatory space also allows for a “thick” understanding of the dynamics between political and socio-economic institutions, organisations and individuals and their impact on policy outputs and outcomes. My findings also provide for a better understanding of regulatory governance in developing countries. Constructs such as responsive regulation, regulatory society and independent regulation that are typically conceived in the literature in a developed country context are critically explored in the Sri Lankan setting. Finally, my research findings extend the literature on privatisation, competition and regulatory governance by illustrating that forces of competition and contestability are more important than ownership change in terms of policy outputs and outcomes, and that – as reflected in the case of Sri Lanka’s telecommunications sector - competition and contestability can in fact transcend forces of weak regulatory governance.

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