ABSTRACT
The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, a small teardrop-shaped nation located off the southern coast of India, is a tropical paradise that has been mired in a two-decade-old internal conflict. The island nation is often overshadowed in world affairs by its larger and more prominent South Asian neighbors, India and Pakistan. Sri Lanka has remained a two-party-dominated democracy since it gained independence from British rule in February 1948. The country's bitterly contested politics and its struggle to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have c aused considerable hardship among its war-weary population of 20 million. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, continues to enjoy one of the highest standards of living among South Asian countries.
