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This assumption is particularly relevant when addressing the forces of deep-rooted conflict. There needs to be a system in which the accumulated resentments that arise from real or perceived misallocation of resources - be it land rights or rights to mineral resources, discrimination on the basis of gender, religion or ethnicity or the other myriad sources of deeply felt grievances - can be aired. In the context of deep-rooted ethno-political conflict, as in Sri Lanka, democratic institutions are more relevant for their potential ability to initiate a process for conflict prevention or transformation than for actually resolving conflicts, per se.
However, democracy can have many meanings. Arther Lewis, writing in 1965, said the word ‘democracy’ has two meanings:
Its primary meaning is that all who are affected by a decision should have the chance to participate in marking that decision, either directly or through chosen representatives. Its secondary meaning is that the will of the majority shall prevail.
However, in multi-ethnic, pluralist societies with the state playing a dominant role, majoritarian democracy may not be democratic at all. In pluralist societies like Sri Lanka, democracy cannot be established through developing a system ensuring majoritarian rule. What is necessary is to create political institutions and to re-structure the state ensuring that those who are affected by a decision get a fair chance to participate in the decision-making process. The lack of such an approach in post-independence Sri Lankan politics, and the continuing alienation of public participation in the formulation of public policy only serve to exacerbate ethnic tension and notions of inequality and estrangement between ethnic communities.
Furthermore, there is no substance in the argument that unitary, centralized forms of governments are necessary for national unity or efficient government. The ethnic majority will almost always assume full power at the centre and in the absence of any power sharing at other levels such as the regional level the aspirations and rights of minorities will tend to be neglected even in the best of unitary systems. These conditions can generate serious ethnic conflict as it has in Sri Lanka and undermine national unity. In such circumstances, minorities will not identify with the concept of a united Sri Lanka, which becomes exclusively identified with the dominant Sinhala majority.
Devolution on the other hand enables minorities to share power with the central government in regions in which they are in a majority and become a willing and responsible partner in the national system. Systems of government which share or devolve power have greater capacity to promote and preserve national unity than unitary systems.
Independent of the ethnic issue, the systems of devolution or federal systems can be more efficient as systems of government than unitary systems. This is for the simple reason that systems of devolution incorporate the basic principles of good management - that is the delegation of responsibility and decision-making power to the appropriate level where the activity takes place. By shedding itself of responsibility for regional-level affairs the central government can operate more efficiently on national policy and the national responsibilities. Devolution also ensures greater transparency and accountability of government. Regional government is closer to the people. Government transactions and the conduct of elected representatives can come under closer scrutiny. Civil society has also greater opportunity for action and for close interaction with government agencies.
By tuning in to the needs of communities, economic disparities, societal grievances and fears and perceived inequalities can be addressed to a greater degree by a decentralised system of government. If the roots of terrorism lie in a sense of alienation from the State, then local self-government and maximum autonomy to decentralised regions can not engender a civic identity that transcends ethnic identity, but also curb secessionist and terrorist movements of the future.
Final Thoughts
The ramifying evil of terrorism, according to Michael Walzer, is not just the killing of innocent people but also the intrusion of fear into everyday life, the violation of private purposes, the insecurity of public spaces and the endless coerciveness of precaution. He also argues against a fundamental principle of terrorism – that it is the last resort of an underprivileged and discriminated peoples to over-turn and change dominant political structures. Walzer says that it is not easy to reach the last resort. Politics, he states, is the art of repetition, and terrorists often conveniently forget that it sometimes takes much more than one attempt to democratically change the prevailing structures of governance.
In the Sri Lanka, it is now passé to say that the repetitive and continued discrimination against Tamils fostered the terrorist movement. What has to be recognised now is the limitation of terrorism. Terrorists can never engender values of a liberal democracy, pluralism or human rights. Such values are the realm of democratic mainstream politics. Terrorists, both in Sri Lanka and in the world, have to realise that in the final analysis, true peace, justice and equality are not achieved through the barrel of a gun, but through the power of the ballot. Furthermore, legislation inimical to conflict transformation processes and reconciliation between communities, like the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) should be repealed or at the very least, amended.
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Writer Profile
Sanjana
Sanjana Hattotuwa is a Rotary World Peace Scholar presently pursuing a Masters in International Studies from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. The views expressed here are his own. He can be contacted at hatt@wow.lk.
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Comments
Permission to meet you online Esther Cheong | Nov 22nd, 2007
Dear Sir
We are studying about Sri Lanka in our school in Singapore. Can we talk to you online on Friday, 0930 on TAKINGITGLOBAL?
Permission to meet you online Esther Cheong | Nov 22nd, 2007
Dear Sir
We are studying about Sri Lanka in our school in Singapore. Can we talk to you online on Friday, 0930 on TAKINGITGLOBAL?
There is much more to this issue... Kermi Liya | Nov 7th, 2008
Hello Sanjana, I really enjoyed reading your article. It was full of information and very deep academic understanding.
However I beg to differ on the case of "racism" on the Aryan race concept. In Sri Lanka, it is not the Buddhists and the Tamils who are causing tension and destroying the peace-it is the Guerrillas and their movement to destroy the country.
I have seen both Tamil and Sinhalese people living in bad conditions, and from my perspective I disagree that it is the "racial divide" between them that is the root of the problem. Many Tamil speak Sinhalese, and several Sinhalese people speak Tamil. Also, the two "races" or the Sri Lankans share their land and respect each others' religions, and cultures, doing their utmost to avoid (more) aggravation and hatred, as caused by the Guerillas.
It is those vile Guerillas, whose organization ACTUALLY consists of corrupted people who are either "Sinhalese and Tamil" (which does NOT matter since they are inhuman anyways) that cause the violence. They abduct children from families, force them to fight and kill, terrorize communities, break apart the already halting economy-it is these Guerillas, who are so devoted to rule Sri Lanka that are destroying the homes of both Sinhalese and Tamil people, regardless of their "race".
What the British did when they came to Sri Lanka-it is such a shame that no one knows the destruction they have caused in the societies of past colonized countries. It is the Guerrilla's fault that they are complete psychologically unstable serial killers, but what the British did is unmistakably and sinfully, deeply harmful.
I only hope that the people will stop going against each other and trust their unity and ambivalence towards eliminating the corrupt government and horrid guerrillas.
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