Federalism and Conflict Resolution in Sri Lanka

Contents: Introduction/Sisira Pinnawala. Opening remarks/V.R. Raghavan. Special remarks/Karl Fischer. Keynote address/Dew Gunasekara. Concept of Federalism/Jayantha Dhanapala: 1. Constitutional law and federalism: Indian experience/S. Mohan. 2. Federalism for Sri Lanka? reconciling many solitudes/Jayadeva Uyangoda. Discussions. Federalism and Governance/S. Muthiah: 1. Sri Lanka: are these the lines to think on for an equitable solution?/S. Muthiah. 2. Transforming a conflict using an economic dividend: the Sri Lankan experience/Saman Kelegama. 3. Sri Lanka's peace process: donors as peace makers/S.D. Muni. 4. Resource sharing in India's federal setup/Shankar Acharya. 5. Federalism and the media: some realities and stereotypes from Sri Lanka/V.S. Sambandan. Discussions. Conflict Resolution/Ponna Wignaraja: 1. Federalism and minorities/Desmond Fernando. 2. Aspects of federalism in the Sri Lankan concept/Shivaji Felix. 3 Conflict resolution in Sri Lanka: insights from Northern Ireland/Sudha Ramachandran. Discussions. Contributors. Index.

"The conflict in Sri Lanka has already consumed more than 70,000 lives, displaced 700 to 800 thousand people besides being the cause for billions of rupees worth of lost opportunities. It is of great concern to the whole world and directly affects the region in general and India in particular. Efforts over the period to resolve the politico-ethnic problem in Sri Lanka has not made much headway. It has been felt that the unitary system has not delivered. Even in the first half of the century, the political setup in Sri Lanka had discussed federalism. However, it did not merit attention while framing the post independence constitution. Federalism was not a preferred subject of discussion even in the recent past. It was an anathema to some, foreign to some others and allergic to many.

The agreement reached in Oslo in December 2002 has brought back the subject of federalism to find a political solution. The concept and idea of federalism, therefore, felt worthwhile to discuss in detail. While there can be many permutations and combinations in a federal set up, unless ideas get discussed, a move forward does not take place. With this in view the Centre for Security Analysis in collaboration with Hanns Seidel Foundation and Sri Lanka Foundation Institute organised a Seminar at Colombo on 'Federalism and Conflict Resolution in Sri Lanka' on 10 & 11 May 2005. The proceedings of the same are covered in this book." (jacket)