ABSTRACT
Post-independence Sri Lanka appeared well on its way to becoming a commendable polyethnic democracy but ethnic politicking and malgovernance landed the island in a civil war that lasted three decades. There was much hope that the war’s end in May 2009 would enable the country to reconcile ethnic differences and regain its democratic promise. But the mechanisms that allowed the country to defeat a separatist movement also enabled President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family to drive the island in an authoritarian direction while disregarding reconciliation with the Tamil minority and fanning anti-Muslim sentiments. While Sri Lanka under the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime experienced impressive infrastructure development and economic growth (amidst economic disparity), it also saw compromised institutions, increased militarization, triumphant Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism, rampant corruption, and democratic regression. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s defeat in January 2015 promised constitutional changes and the space to regain its once vaunted democratic credentials, but the government that followed disappointed. Sri Lanka’s consolidation of ethnocracy continued when Mahinda Rajapaksa returned as prime minister after his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa became president in 2019. But widespread anti-government protests stemming from an economic crisis forced both Rajapaksas out and led to Ranil Wickremesinghe becoming president in July 2021. By then Sri Lanka had declared it was bankrupt. President Wickremesinghe is determined to revive the economy but doing so would require his unpopular government to force through additional austerity measures. The regime is determined to crack down on any protest movement that could destabilize the government, and it is resorting to authoritarian measures in the process. Sri Lanka’s ethnocracy could well see worse days ahead.
