Abstract
This article argues that international and national humanitarian NGOs have a far more fundamental bearing on the social reconstitution of Sri Lankan society as a political, cultural, and moral entity than is usually acknowledged. Through their interventions, humanitarian agencies affect the power relationship between state and non-state actors and between local organizations and the war-affected populations that make up their constituencies. But NGOs also affect the political order by introducing new understandings of the citizen and providing alternative moral arguments to legitimize power and authority. What is taking place, the author contends, is best conceived of as mediations, since the global and the local, the modern and the traditional are coexistent as sources to be strategically drawn upon by the actors.
Notes
6. Examples are Wickramasinghe 2001; Orjuela 2004; and Goonatilake Citation2006.
7. The present discussion focuses on NGOs, but despite their growth in numbers and visibility and the changes they have effected in rural Sri Lanka, they are not the only institutions involved in the redefinition of the Sri Lankan political order. Religious institutions, political parties, business ventures, sports clubs, along with state institutions such as schools are all sites where transformations and mediations of the structures, values, and practices that constitute a particular political order can and do take place.
19. Although interesting, it is beyond the scope of this article to engage in a discussion of the “partnership” strategy. For a critical discussion see Wickramasinghe Citation2001, 94.
24. Ibid., 171; see also Moore Citation1985, 5; and Ong 2004.
25. This is not to say that the model does not also have negative outcomes, corruption and opportunistic politics being two of them (Chandraratna Citation2003).
36. This took place at a time when the government forces were continuing to “liberate” communities in the LTTE-controlled areas. This created an enormous demand for humanitarian assistance, which was first of all to save lives and restore people's shattered livelihoods, but which was also intended to support the government's political aims, namely, winning the hearts and souls of the Tamil population.
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