IN PURSUIT OF HEGEMONY: Politics and State Building in Sri Lanka Shyamika Jayasundara-Smits This dissertation is part of the Research Programme of Ceres, Research School for Resource Studies for Development. © Shyamika Jayasundara-Smits 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author. Printed in The Netherlands. ISBN 978-94-91478-12-3 IN PURSUIT OF HEGEMONY: Politics and State Building in Sri Lanka OP ZOEK NAAR HEGEMONIE: Politiek en staatsvorming in Sri Lanka Thesis to obtain the degree of Doctor from the Erasmus University Rotterdam by command of the Rector Magnificus Professor dr H.G. Schmidt and in accordance with the decision of the Doctorate Board The public defence shall be held on 23 May 2013 at 16.00 hrs by Seneviratne Mudiyanselage Shyamika Jayasundara-Smits born in Colombo, Sri Lanka Doctoral Committee Promotor Prof.dr. M.A.R.M. Salih Other Members Prof.dr. N.K. Wickramasinghe, Leiden University Prof.dr. S.M. Murshed Associate professor dr. D. Zarkov Co-promotor Dr. D. Dunham Contents List of Tables, Diagrams and Appendices viii Acronyms x Acknowledgements xii Abstract xv Samenvatting xvii 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Literature Review 1 1.1.1 Scholarship on Sri Lanka 4 1.2 The Setting and Justification 5 1.2.1 A Statement of the Problem 10 1.3 Research Questions 13 1.4 Central Thesis Statement 14 1.5 Theories and concepts 14 1.5.1 State building 14 1.5.2 Hegemony 14 1.5.3 State-in-Society Model 17 1.6 Analytical Framework 19 1.7 Methodology 20 1.8 Data Collection Methods 20 1.8.1 Theoretical Orientation: Critical and Interpretative 24 1.8.2 Data Analysis: Mixed Methods 24 1.9 Challenges and Limitations 25 1.10 Organisation of the Thesis 25 Notes 26 2 SINHALA-BUDDHIST NATIONALISM: ITS TRAJECTORIES OF TRANSFORMATION AND FUNCTIONS IN POLITICS OF STATE BUILDING 28 2.1 Introduction 28 2.2 Nationalisms and ethnic interpretations 28 2.3 Class origins of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism 33 2.3.1 Anti-Colonial Nationalism: bourgeois leadership 35 2.3.2 Marching towards independence: a search for new allies and new enemies 42 2.4 Post-colonial factional politics and the functions of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism 43 2.4.1 Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism as the vanguard of elite politics 46 2.4.2 Bandaranaike’s politics: Left going Right 50 2.4.3 The ethnic caricature in politics and ‘classless’ Marxist politics: whose left? 51 v vi IN PURSUIT OF HEGEMONY: POLITICS AND STATE BUILDING IN SRI LANKA 2.5 JVP Marxism and JHU Chauvinism: turncoat Lefts aiding the Hegemony of the Right 53 2.5.1 Hela Urumaya and the Newest Sinhala-Buddhist ‘Karumaya’ in politics 56 2.6 Buddhism betrayed?: How and by Whom? 58 2.7 Tamil ethno-nationalism: its functions in Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist politics 59 2.8 Concluding remarks 64 Notes 65 3 MUTTI (POTS) AND PANDAM (TORCHES): PATRONAGE POLITICS 69 3.1 Introduction 69 3.2 Patronage in the Sri Lankan Literature 70 3.2.1 Where did patronage politics come from? 71 3.2.2 Development of a political party system in post-independent Sri Lanka and the use of patronage for party building 76 3.2.3 Dynamics of political party development and strengthening of mass political clientelism 80 3.3 Early processes of state building through ‘mass clientelism’ 84 3.3.1 Challenges in retaining the old clienteles: elite hegemony building at stake? 88 3.4 Clientelism and state policies: how sacred is the sacred cow? From welfare politics to warfare politics 93 3.5 The post-1977 period: state economic policies and transformation of the nature of the political patronage system 100 Jayawardene Regime (1977–1988) 100 Premadasa Regime (1989–1993) 107 Kumaratunga Regime (1993 - 2004) 108 Rajapaksa Regime (from 2005) 111 3.6 Concluding remarks 115 Notes 117 4 SOURCES OF FUNDING FOR PATRONAGE: USE, ABUSE AND MANIPULATION OF STATE INSTITUTIONS 122 4.1 Introduction 122 4.2 State institutions under the British: a quasi-patronage? 123 4.3 The state apparatuses as sources of finance for patronage politics: 1948–1977 126 4.3.1 Resistance and struggle for political hegemony: Elite civil servants vs. political elites 129 4.3.2 Financing patronage through Socialist rhetoric and the politics of state reforms 132 4.3.3 The ghost of socialism: the institutionalisation of political patronage 136 4.4 The ghost of liberalism: patronage politics in the state institutions in the post-1977 period 140 4.4.1 Other recent trends: mega cabinets and increasing horizontal patronage 151 4.4.2 Devolution of power: centralisation of decentralisation and decentralisation of patronage in the state sector? 154 4.4.3 Unreformability of the state sector 157 4.5 Ape (our) Syndrome, fluid identities and fluid politics 160 4.6 Concluding remarks 161 Notes 162 5 HEGEMONY BUILDING AND STATE BUILDING: CONFLICT, WAR AND PEACE IN SRI LANKA 165 5.1 Introduction 165 5.2 Kumaratunga and the agenda of peace by peaceful means 167 Contents vii 5.2.1 Kumaratunga challenged: crisis in the coalition 170 5.2.2 Negotiations with the LTTE (1994–1997): internal political party dynamics 171 5.2.3 PA, the beginning and the end of peace by peaceful means 172 5.2.4 Kumaratunga’s second term and majority-minority politics 174 5.2.5 Political turmoil in the south and the context of the general election in 2001 176 5.2.6 Saving Kumaratunga: the PA–JVP memorandum in September 2001 178 5.3 The 2001 general elections: the people’s verdict dismissed! 179 5.3.1 2002-2003 political negotiations with the LTTE under the UNF government: experimenting (neo) liberal peace 180 5.4 Working around politics of peace: re-shifting the discourse 182 5.4.1 Shifting opinions: international actors and new faces of nationalism in Sri Lanka 183 5.5 Kumaratunga strikes back: from liberal peace to limited war 185 5.5.1 Complexities, threats and opportunities: tsunami politics 187 5.5.2 Complexities, threats and opportunities: the split in the LTTE 187 5.6 The rise of Rajapakse: from total war to victor’s peace and dynastic politics 188 5.6.1 Rajapaksa and the saga of the All Party Representatives Committee (APRC) 190 5.6.2 Total war and military defeat of the LTTE: triumph of the discourse of Sinhalese hegemony 191 5.6.3 What is next? State (re)building by military doves and persecution of peace hawks 194 5.7 Play of discourse or play of morality? 197 5.8 Concluding remarks 197 Notes 198 6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 203 Appendices 208 References 211 List of Tables, Diagrams and Appendices Tables 3.1 Major occupational groups in Sri Lanka 1921–1970 (% working population) 80 3.2 Party profiles of UNP and SLFP 81 3.3 Improvement in physical quality of life in Sri Lanka: 1946–1981 95 3.4 Change in external resources 1945–1975 97 3.5 Population size and rate of growth in Sri Lanka 1871–1981 97 3.6 Government expenditure on social welfare 1955–1975 98 3.7 Differences between traditional and broker clientelism 104 3.8 Military expenditure (% of GDP) 2007–2010 113 3.8.1 Defence expenditure 2007–2011 (in Rs. million) 113 4.1 Europeans and Ceylonese, including the others in the Ceylon Civil Service 125 4.2 Growth of public service, number of employees (1948–1980) 135 4.3 Types of Bureaucracies 138 4.4 Comparison between the First and the Second republican constitutions 143 4.5 Percentage distribution of employed population by employment status – 2009 144 4.6 Distribution of Semi-Government sector employees by Status of Appointment 2001–2007 145 4.7 Public and private sector employment: male and female distribution 1998–2008 (‘000) 146 4.8 Distribution of Semi-Government sector employees by sex 2001–2007 146 4.9 Total employment in each sector from 2005–2009 148 4.10 Distribution of number of Semi-Government employees by major occupational group 2007 148 4.11 Distribution of Semi-Government sector employees by institution 2007 149 4.12 Public sector employment 2007–2009 149 4.13 Unemployment (2003–2008) 150 4.14 Registered unemployed female graduates (1994–2001) 150 4.15 Ethnic composition of occupational categories of males 18–30 years of age 151 5.1 Votes (percentage) secured by UNP and SLFP, General Elections 1994–2004 177 5.2 Colombo Consumers' Price Index (CCPI) & Greater Colombo Consumers' Price Index 177 viii List of Tables, Diagrams and Appendices ix Diagrams 1 Analytical Framework 19 2 Structure of Government (as of 2008) 141 Appendices 1 Map of Sri Lanka 208 2 List of key respondents (information rich cases) 209 3 Training syllabus 209 4 Distribution of percentage of employment in the main sectors in the economy (2000–2010) 210 Acronyms ADB Asian Development Bank APRC All Party Representative Committee CIABOC Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption CNC Ceylon National Congress COPE Committee of Public Enterprises CP Communist Party CPA Centre for Policy Alternatives CWC Ceylon Workers Congress DDC District Development Councils DUNF Democratic United National Front EPDP Eelam People’s Democratic Party GOSL Government of Sri Lanka GST Goods and Services Tax ICES International Centre for Ethnic Studies IDEA Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance IMF International Monetary Fund IPKF Indian Peace Keeping Force ISGA Interim Self-Government Administration JHU Jathika Hela Urumaya JVP Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna LMSL Lanka Marine Services Limited LSSP Lanka Sama Samaja Party LTTE Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam MEP Mahajana Eksath Peramuna MOU Memorandum of Understanding MP Member of Parliament