Enter Homo Extremum?
Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s maiden speech as the SLPP’s Presidential candidate was a masterpiece in banality. It didn’t contain a single memorable sentence or one inspiring idea. That absence was no accident. The speech…
Elections
The Naked Saviours
Mythic Inflation is a concept introduced by American mythologist Joseph Campbell to explain the emergence of a new kind of ruler, the secular king who is also the divinely mandated saviour of…
An Uneven Playing Field
The implementation of a 25% quota for women’s representation in local councils at Sri Lanka’s 2018 Local Government Election was a welcome move, and the result of years of advocacy and activism…
Sri Lanka’s Gradual Return to ‘Normalcy’
The local government election of 10 February 2018 marked a triumphant return of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Though the polls were meant to elect representatives for local government bodies (the lowest tier…
A Plea for Sanity in a Time of Uncertainty
AFP PHOTO / Ishara S. KODIKARA courtesy The on-going political crisis following the local government elections of February 10 raises an issue about the constitutional and political propriety of presidential action. It…
Making Ripples in Public Political Space: The Entry of Women into Local Government in Post War Batticaloa
Yesterday, the day before one of the most historic elections of post-independence Sri Lanka, I sat with a friend who is standing for local government elections for the first time. She is…
The Significance of the 25% Quota for Women in Local Government
Photograph courtesy IPS Context The next round of elections to local government in Sri Lanka is scheduled for February 10, 2018. The election is significant for many reasons. It is being held…
Namal Rajapaksa, bots and trolls: New contours of digital propaganda and online discourse in Sri Lanka
Image courtesy , by Quartz Late 2017, the Twitter account of has generated all manner of violent, venomous pushback and responses to content it has produced, published and promoted. Over the years,…
Local Government election dynamics in the North and East
Photo courtesy Despite the year end holiday season, the political focus is on the upcoming local government elections scheduled for February 10th next year. With nominations closing by end December, January will…
Sri Lanka’s current political impasse: Some additional thoughts
Photo courtesy Editors note: Read in conjunction with by the same author. Sri Lanka has entered another phase of political crisis. It is a three-fold crisis. The first is at the level…
Blood-and-Faith Populism and Sri Lanka’s Future
Image courtesy This month, the populist wave suffered two critical defeats. In France outsider-candidate Emmanuel Macron beat Marine Le Pen. In Iran, reformist president Hassan Rouhani trounced Ebrahim Raisi, a religious hardliner…
US And Them
The United States and Sri Lanka both call themselves democratic societies. Like most of the rest of the world, we have had the U.S.A. held up to us as a model of…
What Trump’s Win Teaches Sri Lanka
Photograph from NBC News Donald Trump’s surprising electoral victory last week gives us Americans a lot to think about. One takeaway is particularly relevant for Sri Lanka. Over the last eight years,…
Regaining Paradise with Donald Trump
Donald Trump’s victory is a beacon of hope to extremists of every stripe, from the Ku Klux Klan to Marine Le Pen, from Islamic extremists and Hindu nationalists to our very own…
Looking for the Human factor in this “Rainbow Revolution”
Two things trouble and pain me. The Mullivaikkal “remembrance” on 18 May, of the dead and missing people due to war, whose families are still agitating to know the “truth” and want…
