Corona with the Big Brothers
It is increasingly evident that the lasting impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic will not be merely health related. In the early stages of government efforts to contain the virus and over the…
Politics and Governance
Frames of Power: Site enhancements
Building on the award-winning Corridors of Power project, Frames of Power is a pioneering, non-partisan initiative for citizens to interactively model perceptions of political authority and approaches to constitutional power. The production…
Reform the Proposed 20th Amendment to Strengthen, Not Weaken, Transparency and Public Oversight
Following parliamentary elections, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa wasted no time in obtaining cabinet approval and thereafter gazetting the proposed 20th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka. Many commentators have noted how…
The 20A: A Very Wrong Approach to Constitution-Making
Photo Courtesy of Midday The proposed 20th Amendment has several major defects. One of its key faults is that its sponsors and framers have chosen a very wrong approach to constitution making….
Sri Lanka and the UN: Retreating from Human Rights and Democracy
Concern is growing, at home and internationally, about increasing unwillingness among leaders – especially the president – to accept checks on the power exercised over the people of Sri Lanka. “I am…
The Fearful President
“If you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention.” — Ramsay, Articles penned on recently by Jayadeva Uyangoda, Asanga Welikala and Gehan Gunatilleke as well as elsewhere, by…
20A is a Political Blunder
Déjà vu? Once upon a time, a mighty government with a two-thirds majority in parliament engaged in political opportunism, and radically changed the constitution of Sri Lanka. It ignored more than a…
The Perspective of Law Students on the Proposed 20th Amendment (Video)
The proposed 20th Amendment to the constitution seeks to repeal/amend all changes introduced by the 19th Amendment save three. They are the retention of five-year terms for the President and Parliament, the…
The US Presidential Election of November, 2020 | Part 2
The looming presidential election of the first week of November, 2020 draws some resemblances to that which confronted John F. Kennedy in the build up to the November 1960 presidential election. Although…
The US Presidential Election of November, 2020 | Part 1
The US presidential election is due in November this year. For people in Sri Lanka, as in much of the globe, that would be among the most relevant political events of the…
The Past and the Present in the (Re)Constitution of the State
By Asanga Welikala and Roshan de Silva-Wijeyeratne The election of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in November 2019 marked the beginning of a new era of a Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist ascendancy in Sri Lanka. The…
The Rajapaksa Tidal-wave and the Anti-Rajapaksa Tsunami-wall
The Rajapaksas are in a hurry. They have a constitution to make and a country to remake. Currently, the road to both destination seems as wide and as clear as a super-highway….
The Other Hejaaz
There’s an image of Hejaaz Hizbullah I return to over and over again. It’s an image of him holding a placard at a protest vigil against the October 2018 constitutional coup. The…
Violence and Abuse Deter Women From Entering Politics
The Daily Mirror In a country that produced the world’s first female head of state 60 years ago and has since seen the election of a female as its executive president, women…
The Nineteenth A: A Legacy Worth Recalling Despite its Impending Demise
Among as many as nineteen amendments introduced to the Constitution of 1978, three stand as having positively contributed to fulfilling Sri Lankan society’s democratic needs. The first is the Thirteenth Amendment. The…