The Emergence of Populist Nationalism and ‘Illiberal’ Peacebuilding in Sri Lanka

ABSTRACT

This article examines Sri Lanka’s ‘illiberal’ peacebuilding through the lens of what is referred to as populist nationalism, a distinct form of post-war political order characterised by nationalist politics with a populist orientation. It shows that the notion of ‘victor’s peace’ has facilitated a shift from ethnolinguistic nationalism to populist nationalism. It identifies three interrelated dimensions of populist nationalism – leadership, new social polarisation, and the narratives of crisis and securitisation. This analytical framework is applied to discern how and why ‘illiberal’ peacebuilding emerged in post-war Sri Lanka. The article argues that populist nationalism and ‘illiberal’ peacebuilding have a symbiotic relationship. Populist nationalism provided political justifications to legitimise ‘illiberal’ peacebuilding, which, in return, empowered the war victors, disempowered conflict victims, and enabled populist-nationalist leaders to manipulate peacebuilding resources to consolidate power. Emerging as a leader-centric political discourse, populist nationalism is reinforced by new social polarisations and securitisation, which further deepens social conflicts.

KEYWORDS:

• Sri Lanka
• populist nationalism
• reconciliation
• peacebuilding
• securitisation
• social polarisation
• leadership
• illiberalism

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Alan Scott, Howard Brasted, Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, Ravindra Chandrasiri Palliyaguruge, David Hundt and two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments, which helped to improve the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the University of New England, Australia.