scholarly journals Sri Lanka: An Ethnocratic State Endangering Positive Peace in the Island

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-58
Author(s):  
Nirmanusan Balasundaram
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
National Security ◽  
International Law ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
The State ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Modus Operandi ◽  
Religious Attitude ◽  
The North ◽  
State Apparatus

Although proclaimed as a democratic republic, the Sri Lankan state is strongly controlled and ruled by Sinhala Buddhist influence due to a deep engrained belief that the island belongs to the Sinhala Buddhists. The modus operandi of the Sri Lankan state apparatus outlines the ethnocratic characteristics of the state. This mono-ethnic and mono-religious attitude has led to the widening and deepening of the discrimination against a particular ethnic group known as the Tamils who traditionally inhabit the North and East of the island. Ethnocracy continues to be defended and justified by the state in the name of sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security and has led to further polarization of the already divided ethnic groups. As a consequence and outcome of the ethnocratic nature of the Sri Lankan state, a bloody war erupted between successive governments of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). After nearly 38 years the prolonged war came to a brutal end in May 2009 amidst blatant violations of international law. However, the root causes of this conflict, which occurred due to ethnocratic nature of the state, have not yet been addressed resulting in the continuation of the ethnic conflict despite the end of the war. 

scholarly journals Tamil Identity in Sri Lanka: A Secular State of Becoming

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anushka Perinpanayagam
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Historical Discourse ◽  
Civil Unrest ◽  
The North ◽  
Growth And Change ◽  
Tamil Identity ◽  
Secular State

<p>Since the island nation of Sri Lanka attained independence in 1948, it has experienced periods of civil unrest marked by riots and government implemented curfews. In the mid-1980s this agitation erupted into civil war between two parties: the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government. Each is associated with a different ethnic group and a very particular nationalist rhetoric. Kristian Stokke and Anne Kirsti Ryntveit, "The Struggle For Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka,”Growth and Change 31 (2000): 285. The LTTE, a group of militant separatists, claims to represent the Tamil population of the north and east, while the Sri Lankan government is mostly comprised of politicians belonging to the island's ethnic majority - the Sinhalese. Serena Tennekoon, "Newspaper Nationalism: Sinhala Identity as Historical Discourse," in Sri Lanka: History and the Roots of Conflict, ed. Jonathon Spencer (London: Routledge, 1990), 205.</p>

Buddhist Law Against the State? Representing Religion, Law, and Conflict

2019 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 662-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Schonthal
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
The State ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
State Law ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Normative Systems ◽  
Religious Law ◽  
A Minor

AbstractPublic disputes over the legal regulation of religion are often portrayed as naturally occurring conflicts between competing normative systems: religious law and state law. What, then, explains why some normative frictions become the focus of major controversies, whereas others do not? This article tries to answer this question, while examining a genre of religious law that has not received much attention by scholars of law and religion, Buddhist law in Sri Lanka. Drawing on monastic disciplinary texts, legal archives, and representations of law taken from online and popular media, this article analyzes how and why a minor, routine friction between Buddhist ecclesiastical rules and Sri Lankan statutory regulations—a dispute over whether a monk may wear his robes in prison—came to be portrayed as a grand contest between two incompatible regimes: “Buddhist law” and “state law.”

Buddhism in the history of China in Southern and Northern kingdoms

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (10-4) ◽  
pp. 216-225
Author(s):  
Leonid Yangutov ◽  
Marina Orbodoeva
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
The South ◽  
The North ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
History Of ◽  
Eastern Jin ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Further Development ◽  
North And South

The article is devoted to the history of Buddhism in China during the period of the Southern and Northern Kingdoms (Nanbeichao, 386-589). The features of the development of Buddhism in the North and South are shown. Three aspects were identified: 1) the attitude of emperors of kingdoms to Buddhism; 2) the relationship of the state apparatus and the Buddhist sangha; 3) the process of further development of Buddhism in China in the context of its adaptation to the Chinese mentality, formed on the basis of the traditional worldview. It was revealed that Buddhism in the context of its adaptation to the Chinese mentality, both in the North and in the South, developed with the traditions of Buddhism of the Eastern Jin period to the same extent.

Treatment of Enemy Aliens

1918 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Garner
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
International Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Alexander Hamilton ◽  
Substantial Agreement ◽  
Government Grants ◽  
German Authority ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Jay Treaty ◽  
The Right

Writers on international law are now in substantial agreement that a belligerent ought not to detain enemy subjects, confiscate their property, or subject them to any disabilities, further than such as the protection of the national security and defense may require. Vattel, in 1758, appears to have been the first writer to adopt the view that had come to be generally held by publicists at the time the present war broke out. “The sovereign,” he said, “who declares war has not the right to detain the subjects of the enemy who are found within his state, nor their effects. They have come to his country in public faith; in permitting them to enter and live in the territory, he has tacitly promised them all liberty and surety for their return. A suitable time should be given them to withdraw with their goods; and if they stay beyond the time prescribed, it is lawful that they should be treated as enemies, though as disarmed enemies.” Alexander Hamilton, in defending the Jay Treaty of 1794, declared that the right of holding property in a country always implies a duty on the part of its government to protect that property and to secure to the owner full enjoyment of it. “Whenever, therefore,” he added, “a government grants permission to foreigners to acquire property within its territories, or to bring and deposit it there, it tacitly promises protection and security — the property of a foreigner placed in another country, by permission of its laws, may be justly regarded as a deposit of which the society is the trustee.” Westlake, in 1907, adverting to the numerous treaty stipulations on the subject, remarked that they might be deemed to amount to “a general agreement, on the part of governments, that modern international law forbids making prisoners the persons of enemy subjects in the territory at the outbreak of war, or, saving the right of expulsion in case of apprehended danger to the state, refusing them the right of continuous residence during good behavior.” Referring to the right of expulsion, Ullmann, a respectable German authority, remarks that expulsion can be resorted to against the subjects of the enemy state, but only after a suitable delay has been offered in order to enable those affected to wind up their affairs.

scholarly journals Analyzing the Fragmented Sri Lankan Muslim Politics in Post-Ashraff Era

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Mohammad Agus Yusoff ◽  
Athambawa Sarjoon ◽  
Zawiyah Mohd Zain
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Minority Politics ◽  
The North ◽  
Leadership Crisis ◽  
Muslim Politics

The traditional Muslim politics in Sri Lanka transformed with the formation of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and its active communal politics under its founder-leader, M.H.M.Ashraff. While representing the interests of the Muslim community, particularly those living in the north-eastern region, SLMC through its politics of bargaining and consensus voiced and advocated for the interests, rights and privileges of the Muslim community as well as contributed to their socio-economic and cultural upliftment at the crossroad of ethnic conflict and civil war. Although SLMC received popular mandate from the Muslim community, the party fell into fragmentation with the unexpected demise of its founder-leader in 2000, and splits were instigated shortly. This fragmentation caused a severe effect in the distinct path of Muslim politics in Sri Lanka. This study examines the fragmented nature and the trends of Muslim politics, particularly the politics of SLMC in post-Ashraff era and their impact. This study reveals that the fragmentation within SLMC caused leadership crisis and emergence of many Muslim political parties that promoted ugly politics of opportunism. This trend ultimately reduced the bargaining strength of Muslim politics, negatively influenced representative politics, leading to the negligence and marginalisation of Muslims’ concerns and grievances in national politics. The leadership crisis and regionalism also negatively influenced the politics of SLMC and other Muslim parties in post-Ashraff era. This study also finds that unifying splinter-groups, reforming party structure and procedures, and redefining goals and path of achieving them would not only strengthen the politics of SLMC and other Muslim political parties but also would give a new brand for Muslim minority politics in Sri Lanka.

Vijaya and Romulus: Interpreting the Origin myths of Sri Lanka and Rome

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALAN STRATHERN
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
North East ◽  
Origin Stories ◽  
The North ◽  
Origin Myths ◽  
The Stranger

AbstractThe story of Vijaya, has long been central to the Sinhalese idea of themselves as a distinct ethnic group of Aryan origin with ancient roots in the island of Lanka. The ‘national’ chronicle of the Sinhalese, the Mahāvaṃsa (circa fifth century ce) presents Vijaya, an exiled prince from India descended from a lion, as the founder hero of Sinhala civilisation. In a companion article to this, I argued that the narrative of Vijaya and other founder-heroes in the Mahāvaṃsa revolves around the theme of transgression, and that this puzzling fact can only be explained by a consideration of the symbolic logic of the ‘stranger-king’ in origin stories and kingship rituals worldwide. In the present article, I look at other ways of explaining the narrative of Sīhabāhu, Vijaya, and Paṇḍukābhaya. First I break down the narrative into four different origin stories and consider their distribution in a range of texts from South Asia in order to reflect on possible textual inspirations for them (and even consider parallels with the Greek tale of Odysseus and Circe). Second, I consider the possibility that the narrative concerning relations with Pāṇḍu royalty reflects immediate political imperatives of the fifth century ce. Do such interpretations negate the assumption that an organic communal process of mythogenesis has been at work? In the final section this methodological dilemma is approached through comparisons with the way in which scholars have looked at the origin myths of ancient Greek and particularly Roman society. Lastly, these reflections add further weight to the global comparative model of the stranger king, for the stories of Romulus and Vijaya share an emphasis on alien and transgressive beginnings.In 2009 the Sri Lankan government finally destroyed the conventional forces of the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) as the civil war that had afflicted the island since 1983 was brought to a violent denouement in the north-east of the Vanni region. From some of the subsequent celebrations by the Sinhalese majority, it seemed that the President Mahinda Rajapaksa was hailed not only for having rid Sri Lanka of a violent menace, but for having, in one sense, re-created the island. The country could now attain the kind of genuine independence and wholeness that had been lacking for much of the period following decolonisation in 1948. After the victory, Rajapaksa was hailed as a ‘great king’ and his admirers were not slow to draw historical analogies with kings and founder-heroes of the past. Such heroes typically have to wade through blood to obtain political mastery; the Lankan chronicles imply that such is the price that must be paid for the re-establishment of society or civilisation itself.

Environments of Law: Islam, Buddhism, and the State in Contemporary Sri Lanka

2016 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Schonthal
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
The State ◽  
Court Case ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
Political Status ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Supreme Court Case

This article uses an important Sri Lankan Supreme Court case concerning religious sound as a starting point for thinking about the intersections of Islam, law, politics, and Buddhism in Sri Lanka. It argues that Sri Lankan Muslims find themselves in three interlacing legal “environments” at the present moment: in an environment of general laws governing religion, in an environment of special laws and administrative bodies for Muslims, and in a broader constitutional environment that grants special recognition to Buddhism. These environments offer differing opportunities and imperatives for expressing Muslim identity, religious equality, diversity, rights, and freedoms in contemporary Sri Lanka. Through a consideration of these legal environments and the way they affected the case, this article illuminates ongoing questions about the legal and political status of Muslims on the island and provides a snapshot of the legal debates and discourses that have flowed into and fortified recent anti-Muslim sentiments on the island.

scholarly journals Reorienting the Study of Citizenship in Sri Lanka

PCD Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 151
Author(s):  
Nira Wickramasinghe
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
Good Citizenship ◽  
Majority Rules ◽  
Multicultural Citizenship ◽  
Analytical Frameworks

In Sri Lankan scholarship the second component, namely 'citizenship' is virtually absent from the public discourse. The obvious reason for the elusive presence of citizenship is, as previously mentioned, the inevitable invasion in every sphere of peoples lives of issues of nationalism, subnationalism and conflict in the past thirty years owing to the Tamil insurrection in the North and East of the island. In the 1980s and 1990s while the world was embroiled in debates over cosmopolitan and multicultural citizenship Sri Lankan studies were concerned with issues of power and democracy and remained locked in outdated analytical frameworks of nation, ethnicity, and community. For historical reasons citizenship has not had in the Sri Lankan scholarly field the seminal and near obsessive presence that nation and state have occupied. Another reason may be that liberal and radical scholars - defenders of minority rights - have been suspicious of majoritarian appeals to some ideal of 'good citizenship' where minorities will eventually be expected to play by majority rules. Although by the 1990s the terms had become a buzzword amongst thinkers in the North, citizenship remained in fact one of the least theorized notions in Sri Lankan studies where a generally instrumental understanding of the term that includes common defense of personal freedom, establishment of basic conditions of social justice and maintenance of civil peace prevails. In Sri Lanka, the tie between citizenship and nationhood, however, can never be wholly deconstructed or ignored. In this light, this paper will proposes future possible areas of study.

scholarly journals STATE PROGRAM FOR NATO-UKRAINE COOPERATION 2001-2004: PRIORITIES AND TASKS IN THE CONTEXT OF EURO-ATLANTIC INTEGRATION

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 137-144
Author(s):  
Serhii POPKO
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Security ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
State Program ◽  
The North ◽  
Bilateral Relations

The State Program for NATO – Ukraine Cooperation 2001-2004 is analyzed, its priorities and features in the context of the development of bilateral relations are determined. It has been established that the content of the program has become a logical continuation of the previous one and should, in the short term, ensure the fullest / best possible implementation of terms of the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership (1997). It is shown that the President of Ukraine, as well as the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) and on its behalf, the State Interagency Commission for NATO – Ukraine Cooperation, have overseen the implementation of the program. The author notes that its adoption took place during the intensification of Ukraine's foreign policy activities aimed at deepening constructive cooperation with the European Union (EU), the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe. The program played an important role in the path to the state's declared accession to the North Atlantic Alliance. During this period, it became one of the main directions of the state policy on national security in the context of the formation of the new architectonics of European security of the 21st century. It is claimed that in the political area the program was meant to ensure the implementation of national policy on European and Euro-Atlantic integration, to increase the level of independence guarantees, territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukrainian borders, its national security, as well as to promote the principles of democracy, respect for the rights and freedoms of man and citizen, the rule of law in Ukraine. Keywords Ukraine, NATO, Euro-Atlantic Integration, national security, Armed Forces of Ukraine (ZSU).

scholarly journals Tinjauan Yuridis Cyber Espionage Berdasarkan Hukum Internasional

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 2141
Author(s):  
Aldo Rahmandana
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
International Law ◽  
The State ◽  
State Responsibility ◽  
Economic Threat ◽  
Cyber Espionage ◽  
Per Se ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
Rapid Transformation

AbstractDue to the rapid transformation of technology causing a subliminal changes on how states spy upon each other. With the help of technology and cyber infrastructure, states tend to use cyber technology as its main facility to conduct an espionage towards other states. Cyber espionage has come to represent national security and economic threat, due to all the classified information that already been massively stolen by another country. The aim of this research paper is to analyze and clarify pertaining the role of International law specifically towards this kind of act of espionage, and perceive the state responsibility of perpetrator which is states. It can be concluded that cyber espionage does not per se regulated under international law, but its lawfulness depends on the way in which it operation carried out may violate specific international conventions or any other international law principles.Keywords: Cyberlaw; Cyber Espionage; International Law.AbstrakPesatnya perkembangan teknologi dan digitalisasi mengakibatkan terjadinya perubahan metode dan cara dalam pelaksanaan tindakan spionase oleh negara terhadap negara lain guna mengumpulkan fakta dan informasi yang berkaitan dengan perkembangan politik, ekonomi, teknologi, dll melalui kapabilitas teknologi siber atau kerap disebut sebagai cyber espionage. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menganalisis terkait peranan hukum internasional dalam mengatur tindakan tersebut dalam tataran internasional dan bagaimana pertanggungjawaban dari negara pelaku tindakan cyber espionage. Hasil dari penelitian ini menyimpulkan bahwa belum ada konvensi international khusus yang mengatur mengenai cyber espionage sehingga tindakan cyber espionage itu sendiri merupakan tindakan yang masih belum diatur secara international.Kata Kunci: Hukum Siber; Cyber Espionage; Hukum Internasional.

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