Constitutional Reform for a Stable Sri Lanka
Constitutional reform has been a consistent demand of the citizens of Sri Lanka, most of whom firmly oppose an all-powerful president who is free of the checks and balances imposed by a…
Constitutional Reform
Waiting for Frodo
J.R.R. Tolkien’s One Ring was an instrument of power and suppression, forged to subjugate the free people of Middle Earth. Yet, the first word-picture of the Ring begins by emphasising its seeming…
Abolition of the Executive Presidency: A Voters’ Policy Guide to the 2024 Presidential Election
What is the executive presidential system under the 1978 Constitution? A President directly elected for a fixed term is the Head of State and the Head of Government who exercises the executive…
Economic Revival and Accountability in Governance
As we approach the end of 2023 and with about a year to go for the next presidential election due before end 2024, President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s frequent refrain and indeed the rationale…
Nation Building is Possible with Full Implementation of 13th Amendment Part 7
In the final part of this seven part article, let us focus on certain fundamental changes required to implement serious political and social reforms for the greater good of the country. If…
Nation Building is Possible With Full Implementation of 13th Amendment Part 6
Devolution of power to the periphery has successfully curtailed demands for secession in a number of countries. There are significant differences in the level of devolutionary powers offered by each country. Canada…
Nation Building is Possible with Full Implementation of 13th Amendment Part 5
One of the arguments raised against devolving police powers to provincial councils is that while a Cabinet Minister is in charge of the central police force, police units in each province controlled…
Nation Building is Possible with Full Implementation of 13th Amendment Part 4
Thirty five years after its enactment, full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the constitution remains as controversial as it was at the beginning. The amendment faced opposition from both the South…
Nation Building is Possible with Full Implementation of 13th Amendment Part 3
The 13th Amendment to the constitution is a product of Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord signed in July 1987, which acknowledged “The imperative need of resolving the ethnic problem of Sri Lanka, and…
Nation Building is Possible with Full Implementation of 13th Amendment Part 2
The history of devolution in Sri Lanka is riddled with disappointments and missed opportunities. Although the armed conflict ended in 2009, the political conflict that led to the nearly 25 years of…
Why Sri Lanka Has Descended into Chaos and the Way Forward Part 2
In the precolonial period of country’s long history, much of organised life was impacted from inter kingdom wars, natural events, harsh climate, hierarchical attitude and behaviour of provincial rulers, and the demands…
Nation Building is Possible with Full Implementation of 13th Amendment Part 1
Sri Lanka, a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, has been facing multiple and endless crises for decades. Effective solutions must be found to resolve the political, economic, cultural and relationship issues between the…
Re-Imagining Democracy in Sri Lanka
We at the BCIS began to conceptualize and plan this publication on the experience of democracy in our country at a time when the Sri Lankan people were on the verge of…
Battle Lines Drawn Again Over the 13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment, created 35 years ago, has once again become a flashpoint after President Ranil Wickremesinghe declared its implementation. Anti-devolution forces have begun gnashing their teeth; those who went into hiding…
The Constitution of Sri Lanka, Buddhism and Other Minorities
The process of ethnic assimilation, common in the pre-British era, largely ceased under colonial rule when communal identities were fostered and emphasized. It can arguably be said modern Sinhala nationalism emerged in…
