Sri Lanka’s ongoing economic crisis has led to mass protests demanding the president’s resignation and will likely end the Rajapaksa political dynasty. But the sociopolitical and economic transformations that protestors clamor for cannot happen unless the country moves away from its extant embedded ethnocracy.
About the Author
Neil DeVotta is professor of politics and international affairs at Wake Forest University. His essay “Sri Lanka: The Return to Ethnocracy” appeared in the January 2021 issue of the Journal of Democracy.
While the people of South Asia, especially those with higher levels of education and exposure to the media, prefer democracy to authoritarianism, they are willing to relax some of the…
With the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in a 26-year civil war, Sri Lanka had a chance for genuine reconciliation, but that chance is being squandered by the government of…
