ABSTRACT
This chapter lays the conceptual foundation for the study. Post-war literature focusses on different types of post-war situations. Since the conflict in Sri Lanka was a civil war, this chapter draws from literature on civil wars. The chapter highlights the theoretical debate on democracy and reconciliation. A relevant subject to the Sri Lankan situation is power sharing. Hence, a section has been allocated to the debates on the relations between power sharing and peace. Moreover, this chapter explains the difference between post-war and post-conflict in order to establish that Sri Lanka was a post-war society, not post-conflict. The chapter also includes a section on methodology and research questions.
