SRI-LANKA TODAY: GOVERNMENTALITY IN CRISIS

This article explores how Sri Lanka’s statecraft was transformed by prolonged internal conflict. Using the lens of “governmentality,” it assesses how security imperatives reshaped bureaucratic routines, resource allocation and civil liberties. The paper documents the expansion of emergency powers, the securitization of development spending, and the resulting trade-offs for pluralism and local governance. It also analyzes the humanitarian and economic costs of displacement and how conflict disrupted supply chains, tourism and investment. By tracing the interplay between political competition, ethnic polarization and external pressures, the paper explains why crisis management often crowded out institutional reform and how this dynamic affected legitimacy at the center and periphery alike.

The body reconstructs the policy arc from ceasefire breakdowns to counterinsurgency surges, mapping changes in budget shares, policing and intelligence coordination. A section on media and civil society details restrictions, self-censorship and the resilience of advocacy networks. Another section examines welfare delivery—targeting, leakage and the coping strategies of households in conflict-affected districts. The paper compares center–province relations before and after devolution initiatives, clarifying why administrative fragmentation blunted service delivery. It then assesses international dimensions: diaspora politics, conditionality and human-rights monitoring. The conclusion outlines options to rebalance security with rights protection—independent oversight, transitional assistance and transparent reconstruction—arguing that restoring trust requires both procedural guarantees and visible improvements in everyday services.