Bart Klem

Location

Annedalsseminariet, room 325

Description

In this class, we will look at several foreign interventions at engineering peace on Sri Lanka: mainly the strong-arm military imposition by India in the 1980s and the 'soft power' Norwegian attempt in the 2000s, neither of which was successful. We will use these insights to ask some critical questions about the mediation literature more widely.

Materials

Click here for the slides. A huge amount has been written about the Norwegian peace effort (and to a lesser degree the Indian one). Pick and choose some readings from the list below.

Teacher's Background

Bart has been working on Sri Lanka since the early 2000s. For a quick look at what he has published, see his researchgate profile Links to an external site., his GU staff page, or his personal webpage Links to an external site. (which is outdated, but has a short video on how theatre has been used for peacebuilding).

Reading

Rambotham et al., chapter 5.

Sørbø, Gunnar, Jonathan Goodhand, Bart Klem, Ada Elisabeth Nissen, and Hilde Selbervik (2011): Pawns of Peace. Evaluation of Norwegian peace efforts in Sri Lanka, 1997-2009, September 2011, Christian Michelsen Institute/School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Please also read this chapter, (where we discuss the politics of evaluation methodology (and give some peaks into what writing a report like the above is really like).

Additional reading

Amarasuriya, Harini and Jonathan Spencer (2021) “Intimate Commitments: Friends, Comrades and Family in the Life of one Sri Lankan Activist” In The Intimate Life of Dissent: Anthropological Perspectives Harini Amarasuriya, Tobias Kelly, Sidharthan Maunaguru, Galina Oustinova-Stjepanovic and Jonathan Spencer (eds). London: University College London Press, pp. 90–111.

Breen, Michael (2018) The Road to Federalism in Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka: Finding the Middle Ground London: Routledge.

Cheran, Rainford (ed) (2009) Pathways of Dissent: Tamil Nationalism in Sri Lanka Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.

Coomaraswamy, Radhika (2003) “The Politics of Institutional Design: An Overview of the Case of Sri Lanka” In Can Democracy Be Designed? The Politics of Institutional Choice in Conflict-Torn Societies Sunil Bastian and Robin Luckham (eds). London: Zed Books, pp. 145–169.

Haniffa, Farzana (2008) “Piety as Politics amongst Muslim Women in Contemporary Sri Lanka” Modern Asian Studies 42(2/3): 347–375.

Hellmann-Rajanayagam, Dagmar (1994) The Tamil Tigers: Armed Struggle for Identity Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.

Klem, Bart (2011) “Islam, Politics and Violence in Eastern Sri Lanka” Journal of Asian Studies 70(3): 730–753.

Klem, Bart (2014) “The Political Geography of War’s End: Territorialisation, Circulation, and Moral Anxiety in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka” Political Geography 38(1): 33–45.

Klem, Bart (2018) “The Problem of Peace and the Meaning of ‘Post-war’” Conflict, Security & Development 18(3): 233–255.

Klem, Bart and Sidharthan Maunaguru (2017) “Insurgent Rule as Sovereign Mimicry and Mutation: Governance, Kingship and Violence in Civil Wars” Comparative Studies in Society and History 59(3): 629–656.

Klem, Bart and Sidharthan Maunaguru (2018) “Public Authority under Sovereign Encroachment: Community Leadership in War-Time Sri Lanka” Modern Asian Studies 52(3): 784–814.

Klem, Bart and Dinesha Samararatne (2022) “Sri Lanka in 2021: Vistas on the Brink” Asian Survey 62(1): 201–210.

Mampilly, Zachariah (2011) Rebel Rulers: Insurgent Governance and Civilian Life during War. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.

Maunaguru, Sidharthan (2021) “Friends with differences: ethics rivalry and politics among Sri Lankan Tamil former political activists” In The Intimate Life of Dissent: Anthropological Perspectives Harini Amarasuriya, Tobias Kelly, Sidharthan Maunaguru, Galina Oustinova-Stjepanovic and Jonathan Spencer (eds). London: University College London Press, pp. 132–150.

McGilvray, Dennis, and Mirak Raheem (2007) Muslim Perspectives on the Sri Lankan Conflict Policy Studies 41. Washington DC: East-West Center Society of Environmental Economics and Policy Studies.

Thiranagama, Sharika (2011) In My Mother's House: Civil War in Sri Lanka Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press.

Uyangoda, Jayadeva (2011) “Travails of State Reform in the Context of Protracted Civil War in Sri Lanka” In Liberal Peace in Question: Politics of State and Market Reform in Sri Lanka Kristian Stokke and Jayadeva Uyangoda (eds). London: Anthem Press, pp. 35–62.

Venugopal, Rajesh (2018) Nationalism, Development and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Welikala, Asanga (2019) “Constitutional Reforms in Sri Lanka – More Drift?” The Round Table, 108(6): 605–612.

Welikala, Asanga (2020) “The Dismissal of Prime Ministers in the Asian Commonwealth: Comparing Democratic Deconsolidation in Malaysia and Sri Lanka” The Political Quarterly 91(4): 786–794.

Wickramasinghe, Nira (2006) Sri Lanka in the Modern Age. A History of Contested Identities. London: Hurst.

Wickramasinghe, Nira (2013) “Producing the Present: History as Heritage in Post-War Patriotic Sri Lanka” Economic & Political Weekly 47(43): 91–100.

Wilson, Jeyaratnam (2000) Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism: Its origins and Developments in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries. London: Hurst.