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Post-Civil War Sri Lankan Electoral Politics and the Future of Liberal Democracy

Post-Civil War Sri Lankan Electoral Politics and the Future of Liberal Democracy

Volume 2 Number 1, Spring 2011pp. 25-53(29)
Research Article
2011/3/1
Jayasuriya, Laksiri
The critical analysis of the 2010 Sri Lankan elections—presidential and parliamentary—situates it within the foundational political institutions and practices of a liberal democracy. This political framework has of late been dramatically reshaped by post-colonial politics which saw the introduction of an executive presidential style of government, and the regionalization of politics resulting in a new genre of alliance politics. Post-colonial state politics have, however, been radically transformed by the 2010 national elections conducted immediately after the ending of the 25-year-old civil war. This has witnessed the emergence of a new illiberal political culture of a partial authoritarian constitutionalism that has been fortified by the constitutional changes relating to the 18th Amendment, introduced in 2010 by the new Rajapaksa government. The article concludes by posing the question: Is this the beginning of a new phase of illiberal politics?
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