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published_or_final_version / Comparative Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

In Sri Lanka, the Tamils' demand for a federal state has turned within a quarter of a century into a demand for the independent state of Eelam. Forces of secession set in motion by emerging Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinism and the resultant Tamil nationalism gathered momentum during the 1970s and 1980s which threatened the political integration of the island. Today Indian intervention has temporarily arrested the process of disintegration. But post-October 1987 developments illustrate that the secessionist war is far from over and secession still remains a real possibility. This thesis focuses on the phenomenon of Tamil armed secessionism. To better understand the forces responsible for the armed secessionist insurrection, this, thesis analyzes the preconditions leading to the violent conflict between the minority Tamils and the majority Sinhalese in Sri Lanka. The consistent failure of the political system to accommodate the basic Tamil demands has contributed to the emergence of Tamil armed secessionism. Further, diverse factors have given impetus to the growth of Tamil secessionist movements. However, the three main political actors in the secessionist struggle — the Sri Lankan government, the Indian central government together with the state government of Tamil Nadu and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam — have had a major impact on the vicissitudes of the Tamil secessionist insurrection. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The central investigation of the thesis is an exploration of why the US has, historically, done very little in terms of assisting the various Sri Lankan governments in their fight against, what the US Department of State determined as, one of the most deadly terrorist organisations on the planet. The thesis traces the development of the US-Sri Lanka relationship from independence (1948) to present day, identifying trends and motifs in the bi-lateral connection. Once identified, these trends and motifs are used to place the American response to the emerging conflict in a clear historical context. The work makes it clear that there are unambiguous historical indicators in the US-Sri Lanka relationship that help determine the nature of it, and that these indicators become ever more apparent, even dominant, as the war between the Tamil insurgents and the Sri Lankan state intensifies. These historical indicators are then used to frame the impact of the War on Terror on America's orientation towards the conflict. The investigation draws together the historical dynamics that have shaped, and continue to impact upon, the US-Sri Lanka relationship, giving a very definite set of parameters within which the US is prepared to accommodate the Sri Lankan state. Ultimately, the question of whether the War on Terror, prosecuted by the administration of President George W. Bush, marked a 'turning point' in the relationship between America and Sri Lanka is answered. The judgment, clearly supported by a broad range of original and, at times peerless, primary sources, is that the US operates a very restrictive foreign policy with Sri Lanka, and that this policy has done very little in material terms, to assist against the LTTE - despite the Bush administration's War on Terror.

The proposed study is to examine the contribution made by John D'Oyly, a British Civil Servant, to the British acquisition and control of the whole of Ceylon. It is also aimed to examine the history of this period (between 1805-1818) in Ceylon as a part of British colonial expansion in South Asia focusing on the policy of infiltration which was used by the British as a method of expanding and consolidating their power and influence. In The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire, published in 1996, P.J. Marshall submitted that the British had become a major political force on the south east coast of the Indian subcontinent, and had become the real rulers of the wealthy province of Bengal by the end of the eighteenth century. He further submits that the success of the British was mainly due to their ability to infiltrate into the internal politics of local states and kingdoms, and thereby dominate some of these political entities rather than overcome and destroy them by the use of military force. This process of infiltration will be examined in detail in the study of British relations with the Kandyan Kingdom, which was situated in the centre of Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and was the only local kingdom then in existence as an independent political entity. The primary documents to be studied are those that relate to the British relations with the Kandyan Kingdom between 1805 and 1818, which covers the career of John D'Oyly as a civil servant working in Ceylon. He was the principal figure used by the British in their dealings with the Kandyan Kingdom, due mainly to his proficiency in the Sinhalese language and his knowledge of the customs and manners of the local people. His official diary, covering between the periods of 1810 and 1815, is one of the major sources of this study, examining the methods of infiltration. What is attempted in this Thesis is to examine this new theoretical approach of infiltration (submitted by P.J. Marshall) to the history of British relations with the Kandyan Kingdom between the periods of 1805 to 1818. This study is associated therefore with giving a new dimension to D'Oyly's work as a civil servant, and also to give a deeper reason for British expansion in Ceylon (as much as in Asia) in the context of the broader British strategic objectives. It strives to give a new meaning to the primary documents available in studying British Kandyan relations, as a part of the successful political expansion of the British in India and Asia.

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