The Challenges of Conflict Management: A Case Study of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Conflict processes are determined both by the larger geopolitical context and the domestic political structure. Yet current studies tend to examine either international or domestic factors, neglecting their interaction. This article undertakes an analysis of the Tamil conflict in Sri Lanka in order to examine domestic-international intersections. In countries where civil war coexists with stable, democratic institutions, conflict management becomes a complex process of balancing competing demands within the government. Under such conditions, noncoercive intervention, such as mediation, can play a more constructive role than military action. The argument of this paper marks a shift from the existing literature which tends to focus on conflicts in failed, anarchic states where coercive intervention becomes necessary.

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Mark I. Lichbach, R. William Ayres, Neil DeVotta and the anonymous reviewers at Civil Wars for their helpful comments and suggestions. Previous versions of this article were presented at the International Studies Association Annual Convention, San Diego, in March 2006 and the Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, Denver in September 2005.

Notes

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11. James and Carment (note 2); Stephen M. Saideman, ‘Overlooking the Obvious: Bringing International Politics Back into Ethnic Conflict Management’, International Studies Review 4/3 (2002) pp.63–86.

12. B. Finel and K. Lord, ‘The Surprising Logic of Transparency,’ International Studies Quarterly 43 (1999) pp. 315–39; Alexandru Grigorescu, ‘International Organizations and Government Transparency: Linking the International and Domestic Realms’, International Studies Quarterly 47 (2003) pp.643–67.

13. Kenneth A. Schultz, Democracy and Coercive Diplomacy (NY: Cambridge UP 2001).

14. Zartman (note 5).

15. Rupen Cetinyan, ‘Bargaining in the Shadow of Third Party Intervention’, International Organization 56/3 (2002) pp.645–77; Mason and Fett (note 5); Barbara Walter, ‘Explaining the Intractability of Territorial Conflict’, International Studies Review 5/4 (2003) pp.137–53.

16. Bidisha Biswas, ‘Managing Discontent: Institutions, Intervention and Ethnic Conflict’ (Doctoral diss., Univ. of Maryland 2006).

17. I. William Zartman, ‘Dynamics and Constraints in Negotiations in Internal Conflicts’, in idem (ed.), Elusive Peace: Negotiating an End to Civil Wars (Washington DC: Brookings 1995).

18. Fortna (note 4); Hampson (note 5); Caroline Hartzell and Matthew Hodie, ‘Institutionalizing Peace: Power Sharing and Post-Civil War Conflict Management’, American Journal of Political Science 47/2 (2003) pp.318–32; Walter (note 4); Doyle and Sambanis (note 5); Hampson (note 5); Peceny and Stanley (note 1); Saideman (note 11).

19. Loraleigh Keashly and Ronald J. Fisher, ‘A Contingency Perspective on Conflict Interventions: Theoretical and Practical Considerations,’ in Jacob Bercovitch (ed.), Resolving International Conflicts (Boulder,CO: Lynne Rienner 1996) pp.235–61; Herbert C. Kelman, ‘Informal Mediation by the Scholar/Practitioner’, in Jacob Bercovitch and Jeffrey Z. Rubin (ed.), Mediation in International Relations (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner 1992) pp.64–96; Thomas Princen, Intermediaries in International Conflict (Princeton UP 1992); Suzanne Werner and Amy Yuen, ‘Making and Keeping Peace’, International Organization 59/1 (Spring 2005) pp.261–92; Jonathan Wilkenfeld, Kathleen Young, Victor Asal and David Quinn, ‘Mediating International Crises: Cross-National and Experimental Perspectives’, Journal of Conflict Resolution 47/3 (2003) pp.279–301.

20. Peceny and Stanley (note 1).

21. Walter (note 4).

22. Neil DeVotta, Blowback: Linguistic Nationalism, Institutional Decay, and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka (Stanford UP 2004); Ronald Rotberg (ed.), Creating Peace in Sri Lanka (Washington DC: Brookings 1999).

23. Zartman (note 17).

24. Ann Hironaka, Neverending Wars: The International Community, Weak States, and the Perpetuation of Civil War (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP 2005); Edward Luttwak, Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP 2001).

25. Atul Kohli, Democracy and Discontent: India's Growing Crisis of Governance (NY: Cambridge UP 1991); Jack Snyder, From Voting to Violence: Democratization and Nationalist Conflict (NY: W.W. Norton 2000).

26. There was a minor intervention by Britain in 1997–98. Japan, a major donor to Sri Lanka, has also been interested in seeing a resolution to the conflict. India has continued to play an influential role, but with a diminished intensity of involvement.

27. Alan J. Bullion, India, Sri Lanka and the Tamil Crisis 1976–1999: An International Perspective (NY: Cassell 1995); Stanley J. Tambiah, Sri Lanka: Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy (Univ. of Chicago Press 1986).

28. Dennis Austin, Democracy and Violence in India and Sri Lanka (NY: Council on Foreign Relations 1995); Bullion (note 27); DeVotta (note 22); Snyder (note 25); Tambiah (note 27).

29. DeVotta (note 22); John Sislin and Frederic S. Pearson, Arms and Ethnic Conflict (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield 2001).

30. Bullion (note 27).

31. Eric Silver, ‘Colombo Peace Moves Collapse / Indian Efforts to Revive Sri Lankan Peace Talks Falter’, The Guardian, 9 Nov. 1985.

32. John Elliott, ‘Gandhi Greets Sri Lanka Peace Deal’, Financial Times (London), 12 Oct. 1985.

33. John Elliott, ‘Gloomy Outlook for Tamil Talks’, Financial Times (London), 14 Aug. 1985; Eric Silver, ‘Tamil Peace Talks Near Collapse over New Killings/Bhutan Talks Endangered by Upsurge of Violence in Sri Lanka’, The Guardian (London), 19 Aug. 1985; Eric Silver, ‘Time Running out for Sri Lanka / Peace Negotiations to Resume between Government and Tamil Separatists in Bhutan’, The Guardian (London), 21 Aug. 1985; Vyvyan Tenorio, ‘Sri Lankan Adversaries Dig in Heels as Gandhi Tries to Save Talks’, Christian Science Monitor, 29 Aug. 1985; Steven R. Weisman, ‘India Role Grows in Sri Lanka Talks’, New York Times, 15 July 1985.

34. Bullion (note 27); K. M. De Silva (ed.), Sri Lanka: Problems of Governance (Kandy: International Centre for Ethnic Studies 1993); Tambiah (note 27).

35. Bullion (note 27).

36. Sumantra Bose, States, Nations, Sovereignty: Sri Lanka, India and the Tamil Eelam Movement (New Delhi: Sage 1994).

37. ‘Sri Lanka: Patting the Tigers’, The Economist, 22 Oct. 1994.

38. Niresh Eliatamby, ‘Sri Lankan Soldiers Launch Attack Amid Peace Moves’, Associated Press, 26 Sept. 1994; Amal Jayasinghe, ‘Presidential Candidate, 56 Others Die in Suspected Tiger Attack’, Agence France Presse, 24 Oct. 1994; N. Ram, ‘We Are Willing to Talk, I Don't Like to Settle This by War’, Frontline, 19 Dec. 1998–1 Jan. 1999.

39. Dexter Cruez, ‘Fierce Fighting Leaves at Least 200 Tamil Rebels Dead’, Associated Press, 28 July 1995.

40. Rotberg (note 22).

41. D.B.S. Jeyaraj, ‘A Norwegian Initiative’, Frontline, 4–17 March 2000.

42. D.B.S. Jeyaraj, ‘The Facilitator Fracas’, Frontline, 23 June–6 July 2001.

43. DeVotta (note 22); Rajat Ganguly, ‘Sri Lanka's Ethnic Conflict: At a Crossroad between Peace and War’, Third World Quarterly 25/5 (2004) pp.903–18; Nirupama Subramaniam, ‘Back to the Freezer’, Frontline, 19 Aug.–1 Sept. 2000; Nirupama Subramaniam, ‘A New Package’, Frontline, 22 July–1Aug. 2000.

44. Ganguly (note 43).

45. Christine Jayasinghe, ‘Sri Lanka: Calling a Truce’, India Today, 11 March 2002; ‘LTTE, Govt Agree on Measures to Ensure Safety of Muslims’, The Press Trust of India, 31 Oct. 2002; ‘Monks Protest against Norwegian-Backed Peace Process in Sri Lanka’, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 5 March 2002.

46. Some observers have questioned the sincerity of the LTTE's interest in such a framework.

47. D.B.S. Jeyaraj, ‘A Tactical Shift’, Frontline, 21 Dec. 2002–3 Jan. 2003.

48. V.S. Sambandan, ‘Heady Start for Peace’, Frontline, 12–25 Oct. 2002.

49. V.S. Sambandan, ‘The Long Road to Thailand’, Frontline, 14–27 Sept. 2002.

50. Jeyaraj, ‘A Tactical Shift’ (note 47).

51. DeVotta (note 22) p.189.

52. DeVotta (note 22) p.189; Rotberg (note 22).

53. Ram Mannikkalingam, ‘Political Power over Ethnic Identity’, Frontline, 22 June–5 July 2002.

54. Andrew Moravcsik, ‘Introduction: Integrating International and Domestic Theories of International Bargaining’, in Peter B. Evans, Harold K. Jacobson and Robert D. Putnam (eds.) Double-Edged Diplomacy: International Bargaining and Domestic Politics (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press 1993).

55. DeVotta (note 22); Hironaka (note 24).

56. Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, Pamela Aall (eds.), Herding Cats: Multiparty Mediation in a Complex World (Washington DC: US Institute of Peace 1999).

57. DeVotta (note 22); Snyder (note 25)

58. Hironaka (note 24).

59. See, for example, Walter (note 15).

60. Donald Rothchild, ‘Ethnic sBargaining and the Management of Intense Conflict’, International Negotiation 2 (1997) pp.1–20; I. William Zartman, ‘Ripeness: The Hurting Stalemate and Beyond’, in Paul Stern and Daniel Druckman (eds.), International Conflict Resolution after the Cold War (Washington DC: National Academy Press 2000).

61. Walter (note 15).

62. Gurr (note 1).

63. Schultz (note 13).

64. Schultz (note 13)