Font Size: a A A

A Study On Ethnic Conflicts And Ethnic Separatism Of Sri Lanka

Posted on:2009-01-21Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:J LiFull Text:PDF
GTID:2166360245981091Subject:International politics
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
The ethnic conflicts and ethnic separatism in Sri Lanka has long been a hotspot in research. Since the independence of Sri Lanka in 1948, its ethnic conflicts have started to become intense. A civil war caused by ethnic problems broke out in Sri Lanka in 1983. It has resulted in the death of tens of thousands of people, and the bloody conflicts are still going on. Ethnic issues and ethnic separatism have turned Sri Lanka from "the Pearl on the Indian Ocean" into the "the Tears on the Indian Ocean". Ethnic issues in Sri Lanka are the most serious in terms of time span, intensity of conflicts and its impact. Besides, "Tamil Tigers" are the strongest and the most harmful armed forces of ethnic separatists in the world. Therefore, the case of Sri Lanka is typical in the research of ethnic conflicts and separatism. In order to attain a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of this issue, this paper attempts to do a systematic research on the beginning, evolvement and origination of ethnic conflicts and ethnic separatism in Sri Lanka, and a further theoretic exploration will be followed based on analysis of the cases of ethnic issues in this country.There are four levels in the text of this paper.Firstly, a brief description of the status quo and characteristics of nationalities in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is a country with diverse nationalities. The ethnic majority is the Sinhalese with worship of Buddhism, while the largest ethnic minority is the Tamil with worship of Hinduism. A major characteristic of the division of nationalities in Sri Lanka is the high homogeneity of religion and language within each ethnic group. Traditionarily, each nationality has formed its own introversive group. As a result of its backwardness in political development, Sri Lanka has not accomplished the shaping of a state nation. This has led to significant influence of ethnic interests and ethnic inclination in the politics of the country. The conflicts between the Sinhalese and the Tamil people are at the core of the ethnic issues of Sri Lanka.Secondly, a concise introduction of the history of the ethnic conflicts in Sri Lanka. At the beginning of this part, we will elaborate the historic background of the ethnic conflicts, including the conflicts between the Sinhalese and the Tamil people in ancient times as well as the impact of Western colonialism on the relation of nationalities in Sri Lanka. This will be followed by a description of the beginning and intensification of ethnic conflicts in Sri Lanka in contemporary times. This includes the fact that a series of mistakes in ethnic policies made by the Sri Lankan government after the independence has resulted in the breaking out and intensification of ethnic conflicts and finally led to the expansion of the Tamil Separatist Movement and the outbreak of the civil war. In the end, we will introduce the origination, evolvement and harm of Tamil ethnic separatism based on the case of the Tamil Tigers.Thirdly, an analysis on the causes of ethnic conflicts in Sri Lanka. The ethnic conflicts are the result of a combination of internal and external factors. The internal causes consist of historical, ethnic, political factors, etc, while external causes consist of the influence of India, western countries, etc. Fourthly, some inspiration from the ethnic issues in Sri Lanka. This include the rethinking, both practically and theoretically, on universal problems reflected in the case of Sri Lanka, the reason for the long-lasting essence of ethnic issues in this country, and the prospect for the future solution of ethnic issues in Sri Lanka.
Keywords/Search Tags:Sri Lanka, Ethnic conflict, Sinhalese, Tamil, LTTE, Separatism
PDF Full Text Request
Related items