scholarly journals Role of Military From Counter Insurgency to Peace Building: Paradigm Shift in the Sri Lankan Nation-Stateʼs Security

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
D.G. Rajitha Nilaksha Rukshan
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
National Security ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Military

Historically, Sri Lanka (Ceylon) used to be considered as one of the more stable and secure countries in the South Asian region. In the years after independence it gradually dawned on the government that maintaining national security was a crucial and most challenging contemporary issue faced by the country. At the global level, the role of the Military was understood as being vital for ensuring the safety, security and dignity of the nation-state. And, when national security is threatened on any ground, the military is expected to play a key role in safeguarding it. However, after the military victory was won by defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka in 2009 it was expected that a deep sense of peace and tranquility would be restored in the country. Contrary to this expectation, Sri Lankan national security was breached very badly, leadimg to an unstable situation as a result of a series of bomb blasts set off by certain extremist elements on the 21st of April 2019. In this backdrop, it would be a timely exercise to explore and analyze the Sri Lankan nation stateʼs security, peace building initiatives, and the role of the military. Taking this a step further, this study sought to analyze the role played by the military in the post-conflict peace building process as well. The study used qualitative methodology to conduct the investigation. Secondary data sources including books, articles and official reports were utilized to collect information for this study. This research found that in Sri Lanka the military was actively engaged in maintaining national security by using its soft and hard power as appropriate. This Study also found that lack of a coherent National Security Policy in Sri Lanka has been a key problem that needs to be addressed and corrected soon to ensure the safety and security of the country.

scholarly journals Sri Lanka: Physical Reconstruction and Economic Development as Conflict Prevention Factors

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (69) ◽  
pp. 55-76
Author(s):  
Boženko Đevoić
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
External Pressure ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Conflict Prevention ◽  
Prevention Measures ◽  
Postconflict Reconstruction ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Government

ABSTRACT This article gives an overview of the 26 year long ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and examines physical reconstruction and economic development as measures of conflict prevention and postconflict reconstruction. During the years of conflict, the Sri Lankan government performed some conflict prevention measures, but most of them caused counter effects, such as the attempt to provide “demilitarization”, which actually increased militarization on both sides, and “political power sharing” that was never honestly executed. Efforts in post-conflict physical reconstruction and economic development, especially after 2009, demonstrate their positive capacity as well as their conflict sensitivity. Although the Sri Lankan government initially had to be forced by international donors to include conflict sensitivity in its projects, more recently this has changed. The government now practices more conflict sensitivity in its planning and execution of physical reconstruction and economic development projects without external pressure.

The Transforming Role of Education in a Post-Conflict Region in Southeastern Bangladesh

2020 ◽  
pp. 295-310
Author(s):  
Ala Uddin
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous People ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
Transfer Program ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Hydroelectric Project ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Government ◽  
Sensitive Issues

This paper attempts to provide an insight into the transforming role of education in peace-building in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). The region has been witnessed ethnic conflict since the mid-1970s. However, the situation intensified with the government sponsored population transfer program (1979 onward), which not only changed the demographic profile, it forcibly displaced many indigenous people—who less than two decades earlier had already been displaced by the Kaptai hydroelectric project (in 1960s). Consequently, the indigenous people who were already in duress because of land scarcity caused by the dam and transmigration faced further survival problem in competition with the Bengali settlers. In this situation, the indigenous people resisted the influx of the Bengali settlers in the hills. In response to the resistance, the Bangladesh government deployed a huge number of military and other armed forces to foil the “insurgency”. In consequence, many incidents of massacre, attack and reprisal attack, killing, sexual violence, etc. took place, often committed by the armed forces and Bengali settlers. However, a couple of initiatives led to a long-awaited agreement in 1997, which formally ended the two and half-decade-long bloody conflict in the hills. Even though 17 years have elapsed since the signing of the Accord, the region is neither a peaceful nor a secured region to its people. Under the circumstances, this paper proposes education can transform the communities toward peaceful coexistence. Addressing the sensitive issues education can contribute to reconstruct and social renewal in the aftermath of violent conflict. Based on empirical findings, also consulted with secondary sources, the paper posits, merely education is not the solution of the long-standing conflict; however, it has significant role to play in peace-building in the post-conflict and conflict-affected societies, like the CHT.

The Transforming Role of Education in a Post-Conflict Region in Southeastern Bangladesh

2017 ◽  
pp. 77-92
Author(s):  
Ala Uddin
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous People ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
Transfer Program ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Hydroelectric Project ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Government ◽  
Sensitive Issues

This paper attempts to provide an insight into the transforming role of education in peace-building in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT). The region has been witnessed ethnic conflict since the mid-1970s. However, the situation intensified with the government sponsored population transfer program (1979 onward), which not only changed the demographic profile, it forcibly displaced many indigenous people—who less than two decades earlier had already been displaced by the Kaptai hydroelectric project (in 1960s). Consequently, the indigenous people who were already in duress because of land scarcity caused by the dam and transmigration faced further survival problem in competition with the Bengali settlers. In this situation, the indigenous people resisted the influx of the Bengali settlers in the hills. In response to the resistance, the Bangladesh government deployed a huge number of military and other armed forces to foil the “insurgency”. In consequence, many incidents of massacre, attack and reprisal attack, killing, sexual violence, etc. took place, often committed by the armed forces and Bengali settlers. However, a couple of initiatives led to a long-awaited agreement in 1997, which formally ended the two and half-decade-long bloody conflict in the hills. Even though 17 years have elapsed since the signing of the Accord, the region is neither a peaceful nor a secured region to its people. Under the circumstances, this paper proposes education can transform the communities toward peaceful coexistence. Addressing the sensitive issues education can contribute to reconstruct and social renewal in the aftermath of violent conflict. Based on empirical findings, also consulted with secondary sources, the paper posits, merely education is not the solution of the long-standing conflict; however, it has significant role to play in peace-building in the post-conflict and conflict-affected societies, like the CHT.

scholarly journals Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration of Armed Groups in Post-war Sri Lanka: A Study based on Koralaipattu South Divisional Secretariat Division in Eastern Sri Lanka

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 236
Author(s):  
V. Kamalasiri ◽  
M. A. M. Fowsar ◽  
M. M. Fazil
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Regional Institutions ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
Foreign Governments ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post War ◽  
Military Victory ◽  
The Military

This article generally focuses on the process of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) which are essential to restore sustainable peace in the post-war scenario. The DDR is one of the significant aspects of the process of post-war peacebuilding. In most of the cases, this process has implemented with the assistance of foreign governments and international or regional institutions. However, the circumstances under which the Government of Sri Lanka happened to take over the sole responsibility for implementing the DDR process have raised serious concerns both at the local and international level. Hence, this article attempts to conduct a detailed inquiry of the DDR process implemented in Sri Lanka after the end of the civil war. This article followed a descriptive method of investigation. The findings of the study show that the DDR process was not fully implemented in a broad manner in the Sri Lankan context, but only served as a continuation of the military victory over the LTTE. In particular, not much attention was paid to disarming and demobilizing the armed groups, and only the so-called DDR process took place without international assistance and supervision.

The Role of Music and Allied Arts in Public Writings on Cultural Diversity: “People of Sri Lanka”

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 93-100
Author(s):  
Gisa Jähnichen
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Culturally Different ◽  
The World ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
The Way

The Sri Lankan Ministry of National Coexistence, Dialogue, and Official Languages published the work “People of Sri Lanka” in 2017. In this comprehensive publication, 21 invited Sri Lankan scholars introduced 19 different people’s groups to public readers in English, mainly targeted at a growing number of foreign visitors in need of understanding the cultural diversity Sri Lanka has to offer. This paper will observe the presentation of these different groups of people, the role music and allied arts play in this context. Considering the non-scholarly design of the publication, a discussion of the role of music and allied arts has to be supplemented through additional analyses based on sources mentioned by the 21 participating scholars and their fragmented application of available knowledge. In result, this paper might help improve the way facts about groups of people, the way of grouping people, and the way of presenting these groupings are displayed to the world beyond South Asia. This fieldwork and literature guided investigation should also lead to suggestions for ethical principles in teaching and presenting of culturally different music practices within Sri Lanka, thus adding an example for other case studies.

scholarly journals The effects of armed conflict on forest cover changes across temporal and spatial scales in the Colombian Amazon

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar V. Bautista-Cespedes ◽  
Louise Willemen ◽  
Augusto Castro-Nunez ◽  
Thomas A. Groen
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Peace Negotiations ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Forest Cover Changes ◽  
The Government ◽  
Colombian Amazon

AbstractThe Amazon rainforest covers roughly 40% of Colombia’s territory and has important global ecological functions. For more than 50 years, an internal war in the country has shaped this region. Peace negotiations between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) initiated in 2012 resulted in a progressive de-escalation of violence and a complete ceasefire in 2016. This study explores the role of different deforestation drivers including armed conflict variables, in explaining deforestation for three periods between 2001 and 2015. Iterative regression analyses were carried out for two spatial extents: the entire Colombian Amazon and a subset area which was most affected by deforestation. The results show that conflict variables have positive relationships with deforestation; yet, they are not among the main variables explaining deforestation. Accessibility and biophysical variables explain more variation. Nevertheless, conflict variables show divergent influence on deforestation depending on the period and scale of analysis. Based on these results, we develop deforestation risk maps to inform the design of forest conservation efforts in the post-conflict period.

Government Officials, Academics, and the Process of Formulating U.S. National Security Policy Toward Africa

1990 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-20
Author(s):  
Larry W. Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
National Security ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Phone Call ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
The Government ◽  
Research Contract ◽  
The U.S

Relationships between U.S. government officials and academic specialists working on national security and foreign policy issues with respect to Africa are many and complex. They can be as informal as a phone call or passing conversation or as formalized as a consulting arrangement or research contract. Many contacts exist and there is no doubt that many in both government and the academy value these ties. There have been, however, ongoing controversies about what settings and what topics are appropriate to the government/academic interchange. National security and foreign policy-making in the U.S. is an extremely diffuse process.

scholarly journals A History of Koshe Town in South-Central Ethiopia from 1941 to 1991

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-137
Author(s):  
Yohannes Tesfaye Getachew
Keyword(s):  
Research Paper ◽  
Military Regime ◽  
Central Ethiopia ◽  
South Central ◽  
Important Development ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Military ◽  
Commercial Center

Abstract Koshe town is the administrative and commercial center of Mareko woreda.1 It is found in Gurage Zone Southern Nation Nationalities and Peoples Regional State. According to the tradition the origin of the name “Koshe” is originated from the plant which called by the name Koshe which abundantly grow in the area. The establishment of Koshe town is directly associated with the five years Italian occupation. Due to the expansion of patriotic movement in the area Italian officials of the area forced to establish additional camp in the area in a particular place Koshe. This paper explores the role of Fascist Italy for the establishment of Koshe town. The former weekly market shifted its location and established around the Italian camp. Following the evacuation of Fascist Italy the Ethiopian governments control the area. During the government of Emperor Haile Selassie Koshe town got some important developmental programs. The most important development was the opening of the first school by the effort of the Swedes.2 The Military regime (Derg)3 also provided important inputs for the urbanization of Koshe town. This research paper observes the development works that flourish in Koshe during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie and the Military regime, and also asses the role of different organizations for the urbanization of Koshe town.

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