Abstract not available

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Leipzig, 1999.

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.

A case study was conducted at the Kaudulla irrigation system in the city zone of Sri Lanka. The principal objective of the study was to perform a comprehensive evaluation of the system in operation with primary focus on identifying major constraints to effective irrigation management through a multi-disciplinary research approach. Inadequate control facilities and neglected maintenance of the channel system were the major problems affecting irrigation management. Other constraints identified were the lack of motivation among management personnel and insufficient funds available for maintenance, which were dependent on constraints external to the system, namely the national economic and political environment. The delicate economic status of a majority of the farmers, grassroot level political environment and the economic vicissitudes of the entire country have resulted in the formation of vicious economic cycles that have contributed to a breakdown in the institutions essential for an engineering system to function effectively. Irrigation management alter:aat:ives were developed on the basis of generating motivational incentives to the management personnel and financial resources to sustain the technical capability of the engineering system to effectively distribute the irrigation water. Techniques for integrating these aspects into new community organizations in addition to existing organizational framework were outlined. These procedures should assist in eliminating the major constraints to effective utilization and management of irrigation water. / Ph. D.

No description available.

It is often claimed that education confers a range of benefits to individuals. From realising their thinking capacities to overcoming class boundaries, the outcomes of education are considered especially beneficial for women. Feminist theorists make a direct and strong link between education and female autonomy. Those who critique this line of thinking point to the numerous societal and structural factors which come into play in preventing education from delivering its promises of a world with greater productivity, equality and freedom. However even these critics concur that higher education does help to overcome the many structural inequalities which affect the everyday lives of women and also men from lower socio-economic backgrounds. This thesis explores the ways in which the sexuality of students, at a Sri Lankan university, is constructed. It looks at the extent to which social factors – be it through personal interactions, established norms or explicit rules – exert control over and determine how individuals can express their sexuality in a setting which is ostensibly liberating and progressive. Based on 15 months of fieldwork at the University of Kelaniya, the findings are used to argue that when it comes to constructing their sexuality students continue to be constrained by a reiteration of social and cultural expectations which are at play in larger society. The onus on women to uphold these expectations is reinforced by other women and the men play a key role in ensuring their maintenance. Hailing predominantly from working-class backgrounds, these young women expect university education to provide them with the ticket out of their workingclass background to better opportunities. Thus they endeavour to maintain, produce and reproduce social norms which will mark them as respectable and chaste women. The potentiality of a better life offered by university education becomes the very thing that constrains women students from using their autonomy to express their independence and sexuality. Based on these findings, it is then argued that since higher education itself is shaped and constrained by factors of nationalism, class and gender, the numerous benefits it offers to women do not always provide them with the autonomy that is needed to overcome the double standards that apply to how sexuality is constructed in most societies. The intersections between gender, class and nationalism dominated the milieu in which this Sri Lankan university is placed and thus it is these factors, rather than education, which determined the ways in which women could construct their sexuality. The aspirations brought on through their university education of a better life, rather than liberating them, further constrained their behaviours. As such these women engaged in a system of surveillance – both of self and the other – which maintained and reproduced notions of respectability and sexual sobriety in their everyday behaviours.

How do people who have participated in extensive violence against the state and members of their community, understand and reflect on their experiences? What meanings do they attach to violence, and how do they go on to reformulate their lives and deal with the consequences of their actions in its aftermath? These are among the key questions that this thesis considers. Anchored in a little-known violent period that took place in southern Sri Lanka in the late 1980s, known locally simply as ‘the Terror’ (Bheeshanaya), this ethnography of political violence analyses the memories and narratives of those who have engaged in violence. It explores how violence is negotiated and lived with in the aftermath and its implications for the self and sociality. As such, this study is concerned with how people mediate and articulate discomforting memories of violence, in a post-terror context of silence and fear, where justice and reconciliation are lacking. Through the accounts of people who have participated in violence, this thesis provides rich insight into the consequences of violence, and further highlights the flawed nature of one-dimensional ‘victim’ and ‘perpetrator’ binaries generally assumed in studies of violence, emphasising instead the ambiguity that marks the experience of violence. This thesis is based on 14 months of fieldwork carried out primarily with former insurgents in southern Sri Lanka. For balance and to maximise representation in what remains deeply contested terrain, their accounts are set against the stories of people who did not directly engage in violence, but whose lives were nevertheless touched by the Terror. This thesis argues that for those who have participated in violence, the mediation of its memory is an on-going ethical exercise. It finds that former insurgents remember, give meaning to, and live with, their violent pasts in ethical terms. Remembering violence is morally tendentious and carries significant implications for the self and sociality in the present. Recreating life after terror involves finding an ethical framework to deal with violence, and entails ongoing efforts to allocate moral responsibility for it. This thesis contends that as much as the violent past is kept alive in the present as an ethical issue, moral accountability for it remains un-reconciled and in a constant state of flux. It shows overall the narratives of former insurgents to be contradictory and convoluted, highlighting the ambivalent nature of memory and lived experience of violence. Moreover, it argues that for those who have participated in violence, life in the aftermath is about finding ways of living with one’s violent past, rather that ‘healing’ or ‘moving on’ from it.

No description available.

Political violence in Sri Lanka is not a unique phenomenon. It is a prevalent tendency in many countries of the Third World. Sri Lanka, since 1971, has experienced a sharp escalation of political violence which renders it suitable as a case study of insurgency and guerrilla warfare in developing countries. The author's major thrust is a comparative review the causes, patterns, and implications of the leftwing Insurrection of 1971 and the Tamil guerrilla warfare up to the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in June 1987. This thesis highlights the salient socio-economic and political factors, underscoring the view that ethnicity is the impetus behind the continuing turmoil in Sri Lankan society. The author's main hypotheses are that the Insurrection of 1971 as well as the subsequent Tamil guerrilla warfare were pre-planned and well-organised, and that the politically violent organisations in Sri Lanka were mainly a result of the emergence of new social forces which came about due to socio-economic and political transformations. The analysis begins with a review of the theories of political violence. Of these theories Huntington's theory of modernisation relates more closely to the origin of the political violence movement in Sri Lanka. The awakening of the earliest guerrilla group, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (J. V. P. ), in 1971 lay deeply rooted in socio-economic and political factors. The emergence of the Tamil guerrilla organisations stemmed from the long-standing competition between the Sinhala majority and the minority Tamils for limited socio-economic resources and exclusive political powers. The study shows that the socio-economic background of the leaders and members were diverse and often paradoxical, if not at odds to the groups' goals. The ethno-nationalist ideologies, strategies and tactics of the guerrilla organisations, instiled group consciousness and goaded otherwise ordinary citizens to commit political violence. The pattern of political violence in Sri Lanka was a highly emotive expression of anti-establishment and secessionist convictions on the part of the guerrillas. Finally, the study proposes politico-economic reforms rather than military options to cope with the problem of political violence in Sri Lanka.

No description available.