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This qualitative master essay has taken place as a field study in the Sri Lankan post-war environment. The official peace started in 2009 and the country has had almost 30 years of war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government. The island is very segregated into clearly different ethnic and religious groups, which belonging has a big importance for the individuals. Very little contact takes place between the different groups and the prejudices between them have been built up for a long time and are hard to change. The focus in this research is the youth movement Sri Lanka Unites (SLU). Their vision is to bring youth together that are from different backgrounds and different geographical location in Sri Lanka. SLU does invite school prefects, evenly distributed from all over the island, to their annual Future Leaders Conference (FLC). There will possibilities be given to create friends from all over the country no matter background and through games and teamwork activities break down stereotypes about each other. When the FLC is over the prefects will go back to their school and starts create riffles on the water to their context regarding their new experience. In this study I have chosen to change the name prefects to change agents. The aim with this study is to gain understanding of the change agents’ experiences and attitudes regarding the reconciliation initiatives provided by Sri Lanka Unites including what the initiative mean for the change agents’ and their country’s future road to peace. The methodological approach has been ethnography and semi structured interview has been used as the method of data collection. Theories that have been applied are about culture, change process and attitude change. Earlier research has been focused on change agents, peace initiatives and attitude change. The major findings in this essay are that Sri Lanka Unites has a very big influence and do change a lot of the change agents’ attitudes. The change agents experience that they are a part of the solution on Sri Lanka´s road towards a peaceful country. Hence only time will tell how big the effects of the change agents and Sri Lanka Unites will have on the nations road to reconciliation. / Denna kvalitativa magisteruppsats har tagit plats i en efterkrigstid på Sri Lanka i form av en fältstudie. Den officiella freden deklarerades år 2009 och landet hade då haft nästan ett 30 år långt krig mellan de Tamilska Tigrarna (LTTE) och den Sri Lankesiska staten. Nationen är mycket segregerad i etniska och religiösa grupper vars tillhörighet har en stor betydelse för individen. Väldigt lite kontakt sker mellan de olika grupperna och fördomarna dem emellan har byggts upp under lång tid och är svåra att överbygga. Fokus i denna studie ligger på en ungdomsrörelse vid namn Sri Lanka Unites (SLU). Rörelsen har som vision att förena ungdomar från alla bakgrunder och geografiska platser på Sri Lanka. SLU bjuder in skolprefekter jämnt fördelat från hela Sri Lanka, till deras årliga event Future Leader Conference (FLC). Där ges möjlighet att skapa vänner från hela landet oavsett bakgrund och genom tävlingar och teamarbete bryta ned stereotyper om varandra. När FLC är slut åker skolprefekterna sedan tillbaka till deras skola för att ge ringar på vattnet till deras omgivning om deras nya erfarenheter. Dessa skolprefekter har jag i denna studie döpt om till förändringsagenter. Syftet med denna studie är att få förståelse för förändringsagenternas upplevelser och attityder rörande försoningsinitiativen som Sri Lanka Unites har initierat samt vad dessa initiativ betyder för förändringsagenterna och deras nation på deras framtida väg till fred. Den metodologiska ansatsen har varit etnografisk och semisstrukturerade intervjuer har använts som metod för datainsamling. Teorier som har applicerats i denna studie är framförallt om kultur, förändringsprocesser och attitydförändringar. Tidigare forskning har fokuserats på förändringsagenter, fredsinitiativ och attitydförändringar. De främsta slutsatserna i denna studie är att rörelsen Sri Lanka Unites har en mycket stor påverkan på och förändrar många av skolprefekternas attityder. Förändringsagenterna upplever att de är en del av lösningen på att Sri Lanka ska fortsätta och i framtiden vara ett fredligt land. Dock är tiden det som får utvisa hur stora effekter förändringsagenterna och Sri Lanka Unites har på nationens väg till försoning.

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This diploma thesis deals with the economy and the position of Sri Lanka in the international tourism market. The aim of the thesis is to analyze the performance of Sri Lankan economy and the country's position in the international tourism market. The thesis also concentrates on assessing the competitiveness of both the economy and the tourism industry. The development of the country is analyzed since the end of the civil war. The first chapter theoretically defines key concepts related to the issue of international tourism. The second chapter deals with the economy of Sri Lanka. Firstly, the structure of economy is introduced. Secondly, macroeconomic indicators and international trade are assessed and thirdly, the competitiveness of Sri Lankan economy is analyzed. The third chapter deals with tourism in Sri Lanka. After the presentation of tourism preconditions, the economic characteristics of the sector and of its impact on the national economy follow. The organizational structure and the tourism competitiveness are evaluated afterwards. Finally, SWOT analysis of the tourism industry in Sri Lanka is conducted.

This thesis deals with the accounting system and the tax system in Sri Lanka and compares these systems with Czech approaches to the issue. The aim is to acquaint readers with selected financial and tax system of a developing Asian country and to determine whether Sri Lanka can have an accounting system at the level of developed countries. In an effort to reconcile the Sri Lankan accounting standards with IFRS Sri Lanka adopted Financial Reporting Standards issued by the IASB. We can say that the financial system of the examined developing country is at the level of developed countries. On the fiscal side, it was found that the country focuses mainly on indirect taxation. Value added tax has the largest share in the tax mix. Unlike the tax mix in the Czech Republic there is a great importance of revenue from taxes on international trade. Contributions to social security, which is the most important part of the tax mix in the Czech Republic, are collected in Sri Lanka on an insignificant degree.

L’étude des Tamouls à Colombo, Kuala Lumpur et Singapour montre l’intérêt d’adopter une perspective comparative et multiscalaire pour saisir dans toute leur complexité les différents facteurs agissant sur l’identification et l’intégration socio-spatiale d’un groupe minoritaire transnational. Ces Tamouls évoluent dans des contextes politiques nationaux très différents. À Sri Lanka, ils se retrouvent au cœur d’un conflit intercommunautaire. À Singapour, ils sont reconnus officiellement comme l’une des composantes de la société multiculturelle alors qu’en Malaise, l’État privilégie les Malais. L’analyse des politiques menées par la puissance coloniale, puis par les trois États indépendants à l’égard des minorités, permet de mieux comprendre leurs impacts sur le sentiment d’identification et d’intégration des Tamouls à la Nation, ainsi que sur leur répartition dans ces villes. À l’échelle locale, l’inscription spatiale de leur identité et les pratiques citadines des Tamouls favorisent une appropriation de leur environnement urbain. Toutefois, cette dernière n’est pas immuable. Les politiques urbaines développées par les États, qui selon les cas préservent ou détruisent les ethnoterritoires, ont des conséquences sur l’empreinte urbaine tamoule et leur pratique de la ville. Cette réalité n’est pas sans conséquences sur la façon dont les Tamouls perçoivent leur appartenance à la Nation. Enfin, les liens transnationaux (culturels, politiques, économiques) entre Tamouls et les dynamiques migratoires internationales contemporaines des Tamouls dans ces trois pays ont également des conséquences sur l’identification et l’intégration de ceux de Colombo, Kuala Lumpur et Singapour. / The study of Tamils in Colombo, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore shows the importance of adopting a multi-scale and comparative perspective in order to fully grasp an understanding of the complexity of the various factors affecting the identification and socio-spatial integration of a transnational minority group. These Tamils evolve in very different national political contexts. In Sri Lanka, they are at the heart of inter-communal conflicts. In Singapore, they are officially recognized as a component of a multicultural society, whilst in Malaysia the government officially favors Malays. The analysis of the policies enforced by the colonial power, followed by the three independent states toward minorities provides a better understanding of their impacts on the sense of identity and integration of Tamils in the Nation, as well as their geographical distribution in these cities. At the local level, the spatial inscription of tamil identity and their urban practices favor an appropriation of their urban environment. However, it is not immutable. Urban policies developed by states, which according to the cases preserve or destroy ethnoterritories, have an impact on the Tamil urban footprint and their practical of the city. This reality is not without consequence on how Tamils perceive their attachement to the nation. Finally, transnational ties (cultural, political, economical) between Tamils and contemporary dynamics of international migration of Tamils in these three countries also have consequences on the identification and integration of those from Colombo, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

This study examines trade union resistance to the post 1977 Export Oriented Industrialisation (EOI) strategies in Sri Lanka, and the possibilities of developing new strategic options. In contrast to perspectives that narrow unions to political economic dimensions, this study emphasises the cultural and the movement dimensions of unions. The purpose of the study is to understand the ways unions can regain their role as civil society actors on the basis of building worker solidarity. The study is divided into two main parts. The first part focuses on the features and tendencies of social movement unionism as advancing new possibilities towards revitalising unions. Under globalisation, unions are faced with an increasingly casualised labour force with more women absorbed as wage workers. The promotion of labour market deregulation and privatisation, endorsed by neo-liberal ideologies of competitive individualism, illustrates the narrowing of unions to the workplace while undermining worker solidarity. The first part of this research describes the impact of :neo-liberal globalisation on trade unions; conceptualisation of and resistance to globalisation; the essence of trade unions; social movement unionism and labour internationalism. According to social movement unionism perspectives, party independent union strategies, based on elements of internal democracy and structured alliances open the possibility of emphasising the movement dimension of unions. The second part explains the context of unions in Sri Lanka, focusing on three unions - the Nurses, Tea Plantation workers, and Free Trade Zone workers. In terms of the structural context, Sri Lankan unions faced a multi-faceted weakening under the post-1977 EOI policies. The assertion of an authoritarian state, promoting interests of capital, enhanced the fragmentation of unions along party differences that were further compounded by divisions along ethnic identity politics. Moreover, the increasing militarisation of the state, which maintains a protracted ethnic war, reinforced coercive state strategies restraining union resistance and shrinking the realm of civil society. In confronting state strategies of labour market deregulation and privatisation, the enduring party subordinated unions are increasingly inadequate. In contrast, the three unions in this study express forms of party-independent union strategies. By analysing their modes of resistance related to the articulation of worker interests, their organisational modes, and their engagement in representative and movement politics the study explores the possibility of developing a social movement unionism orientation in order to regain their role as civil society actors

This thesis deals with the Portuguese attempt to settle Sri Lanka in the period between 1580-1630. It analyses, at first, the origin of the colonization project which was a product of the transformation of the character of the Portuguese influence on the island in the transition of 16th and 17th centuries. This character has been changed from commerce oriented on conquest-oriented. At second, it finds the causes of decisive failure of Portuguese and their evaluation. It attempts to contextualize the events within the scope of Portuguese policy in Sri Lanka and within the overall context of the Portuguese expansion in the East. The events outside of the island were immensely important for the development in Sri Lanka because they contribute to the formation of military and political concepts as well as to take of specific decisions. In Sri Lanka, the Portuguese traded since 1506 when they for the first time stood on its shore, but, during the 16th century, they have been still more involved in the local political situation on the part of the Kingdom of Kotte. Finally, during the 80's and 90's of the 16th century, they decided to control the island. In a very short time, they gained under their direct or indirect control all island territories, except the Sri Lankan central plateau on which the...