ABSTRACT
There is no overarching, national social cohesion in Sri Lanka. The cohesiveness we can find is “communalised”: confined to segregated collectives whose members feel a high level of identity and belongingness among each other, coupled with a high degree of alienation towards non-members. At the root of this deep division lies the “minority complex” of the Sinhalese ethnic majority, who feel threatened by the geo-cultural Tamil majority in the region. This gives rise to the unique Sinhalese understanding of Sri Lanka as a “holy island” which must be kept intact. Unitarism, and the majoritarianism which follows from it, is the ideological glue which holds the Sinhalese community together. The Sri Lankan Tamils were only kept in this nation-state construct by political and military coercion. Ultimately, violence is the unifying force that holds Sri Lanka together.
