Sri Lanka's structural adjustment program and its impact on Indo-Lanka relations

Asian Survey

Volumn 38, Issue 5, 1998, Pages 457-473

  DeVotta, Neil ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

FOREIGN POLICY; GEOPOLITICS; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT;

INDIA; SRI LANKA;

EID: 0031718018     PISSN: 00044687     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/2645503     Document Type: Article

References (36)

1. "Tamils" in this article refer to Sri Lanka's northern Tamils, many of whom now reside in other parts of the country. Those Tamils brought in by the British to work on tea plantations are usually referred to as Indian Tamils. As a significant aside, it should be noted that Sri Lanka's Muslims, having migrated from Malabar, India, and the rest of the Coromandel Coast from the 10th century onward, speak the Tamil language. Their ethnic identity, however, remains tied to their religion. While Sri Lanka's Christian population includes both Sinhalese and Tamil, one almost never sees a Sinhalese who is Hindu and a Tamil who is Buddhist.
2. S. D. Muni, Pangs of Proximity: India's and Sri Lanka's Ethnic Crisis (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1993), p. 13.
3. N. S. Jagannathan, "Anatomy of a Misadventure," Mainstream 28:24 (1990), p. 3.
4. Muni, Pangs of Proximity, p. 22.
5. Although not explicitly advocated, a significant feature of the Indira Doctrine was its incorporation of both geostrategic and ethno-regional concerns. With regard to the former, Bhabani Sen Gupta argued that the Indira Doctrine exemplified an Indian national consensus that "India will not tolerate external intervention in a conflict situation in any South Asian country if the intervention has any implicit or explicit anti-Indian implication. No South Asian government should therefore ask for external assistance with an anti-Indian bias from any country." New Statesman (New Delhi), August 6, 1983, quoted in P. V. J. Jayasekera, "Indo-Sri Lanka Relations: The Security Dimensions," in ed. P. V. J. Jayasekera, Security Dilemma of a Small State, vol. 1 (New Delhi: South Asian Publishers, Pvt. Ltd., 1992), p. 500. On the other hand, Maya Chadda argues from an ethno-regional standpoint to suggest that the Indira Doctrine was a policy by which "India would pursue diplomacy but once that failed, it would use military force to defend, even pre-empt any adverse fallout of transborder ethnic conflict. India would [thus] preserve the choice to use transborder ethnic nations or those that had taken refuge in India to gain leverage on disputes in the region." See her Ethnicity, Security, and Separatism in India (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), p. 97.
6. Although not explicitly advocated, a significant feature of the Indira Doctrine was its incorporation of both geostrategic and ethno-regional concerns. With regard to the former, Bhabani Sen Gupta argued that the Indira Doctrine exemplified an Indian national consensus that "India will not tolerate external intervention in a conflict situation in any South Asian country if the intervention has any implicit or explicit anti-Indian implication. No South Asian government should therefore ask for external assistance with an anti-Indian bias from any country." New Statesman (New Delhi), August 6, 1983, quoted in P. V. J. Jayasekera, "Indo-Sri Lanka Relations: The Security Dimensions," in ed. P. V. J. Jayasekera, Security Dilemma of a Small State, vol. 1 (New Delhi: South Asian Publishers, Pvt. Ltd., 1992), p. 500. On the other hand, Maya Chadda argues from an ethno-regional standpoint to suggest that the Indira Doctrine was a policy by which "India would pursue diplomacy but once that failed, it would use military force to defend, even pre-empt any adverse fallout of transborder ethnic conflict. India would [thus] preserve the choice to use transborder ethnic nations or those that had taken refuge in India to gain leverage on disputes in the region." See her Ethnicity, Security, and Separatism in India (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), p. 97.
7. Although not explicitly advocated, a significant feature of the Indira Doctrine was its incorporation of both geostrategic and ethno-regional concerns. With regard to the former, Bhabani Sen Gupta argued that the Indira Doctrine exemplified an Indian national consensus that "India will not tolerate external intervention in a conflict situation in any South Asian country if the intervention has any implicit or explicit anti-Indian implication. No South Asian government should therefore ask for external assistance with an anti-Indian bias from any country." New Statesman (New Delhi), August 6, 1983, quoted in P. V. J. Jayasekera, "Indo-Sri Lanka Relations: The Security Dimensions," in ed. P. V. J. Jayasekera, Security Dilemma of a Small State, vol. 1 (New Delhi: South Asian Publishers, Pvt. Ltd., 1992), p. 500. On the other hand, Maya Chadda argues from an ethno-regional standpoint to suggest that the Indira Doctrine was a policy by which "India would pursue diplomacy but once that failed, it would use military force to defend, even pre-empt any adverse fallout of transborder ethnic conflict. India would [thus] preserve the choice to use transborder ethnic nations or those that had taken refuge in India to gain leverage on disputes in the region." See her Ethnicity, Security, and Separatism in India (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), p. 97.
8. U.S. Congress, House, Committee on International Relations, Sri Lanka in Turmoil: Implications of Intensified Conflict: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, 104th Cong., 1st sess., November 14, 1995, p. 23.
9. K. M. de Silva, Regional Powers and Small State Security: India and Sri Lanka, 1977-90 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995), pp. 105-12; C. Joshua Thomas, Sri Lanka's Turmoil and India's Government: A Study of Ethnic Conflict (New Delhi: Omsons Publications, 1995), pp. 65, 68.
10. K. M. de Silva, Regional Powers and Small State Security: India and Sri Lanka, 1977-90 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995), pp. 105-12; C. Joshua Thomas, Sri Lanka's Turmoil and India's Government: A Study of Ethnic Conflict (New Delhi: Omsons Publications, 1995), pp. 65, 68.
11. Quoted in Rohan Gunaratna, Indian Intervention in Sri Lanka: The Role of India's Intelligence Agencies (Colombo: South Asian Network on Conflict Research, 1993), p. 31. The Mossad also trained Sri Lankan personnel in Israeli camps. But unbeknown to the Sri Lankan government, they trained the Tamil rebels as well. Indeed, in typical Mossad chutzpah, they once trained both groups at the same time in the same camp. See Victor Ostrovsky, By Way of Deception (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990), pp. 127-31.
12. Quoted in Rohan Gunaratna, Indian Intervention in Sri Lanka: The Role of India's Intelligence Agencies (Colombo: South Asian Network on Conflict Research, 1993), p. 31. The Mossad also trained Sri Lankan personnel in Israeli camps. But unbeknown to the Sri Lankan government, they trained the Tamil rebels as well. Indeed, in typical Mossad chutzpah, they once trained both groups at the same time in the same camp. See Victor Ostrovsky, By Way of Deception (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990), pp. 127-31.
13. Rajesh Kadian, India's Sri Lanka Fiasco: Peace Keepers at War (New Delhi: Vision Books, 1990), pp. 100-101.
14. For a detailed account of RAW activities, see ibid., pp. 98-109.
15. The JVP (National Liberation Front) was a Maoist organization comprised mainly of disgruntled students that sought to topple the government.
16. K. M. de Silva, "Sri Lanka's Security and Strategies for Survival," in Sri Lanka: Problems of Governance, ed. K. M. de Silva (New Delhi: Konark Publishers, Pvt. Ltd., 1993), p. 388.
17. Mick Moore, "Economic Liberalization Versus Political Pluralism in Sri Lanka," Modern Asian Studies 24:2 (1990), p. 356.
18. Ibid., p. 357.
19. Steven Kemper, "J. R. Jayawardene, Righteousness, and Realpolitik," in Sri Lanka: History and the Roots of Conflict, ed. Jonathan Spencer (London: Routledge, 1990), p. 191; A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi, "Class and Chauvinism in Sri Lanka," Journal of Contemporary Asia 17:2 (1987), p. 181.
20. Steven Kemper, "J. R. Jayawardene, Righteousness, and Realpolitik," in Sri Lanka: History and the Roots of Conflict, ed. Jonathan Spencer (London: Routledge, 1990), p. 191; A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi, "Class and Chauvinism in Sri Lanka," Journal of Contemporary Asia 17:2 (1987), p. 181.
21. K. M. de Silva and Howard Wriggins, J. R. Jayawardene of Sri Lanka: A Political Biography, 1956-1989, vol. 2 (London: Leo Cooper, 1994), pp. 459-60.
22. A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi, "Class and Chauvinism," p. 181.
23. See, for example, Newton Gunasinghe, "The Open Market Economy and Its Impact on Ethnic Relations in Sri Lanka," in Sri Lanka: The Ethnic Conflict: Myths, Realities, and Perspectives, by Committee for Rational Development (New Delhi: Navrang, 1984), pp. 197-214.
24. K. M. de Silva and Howard Wriggins, "J. R. Jayawardene," pp. 469-70.
25. V. Moonesinghe, "Good for Capitalists, Bad for Economy," Lanka Guardian 8:11 (October 1, 1985), p. 14.
26. S. U. Kodikara, "Defense and Security Perceptions of Sri Lankan Foreign Policy Decision-Makers: A Post-Independence Overview," in Security Dilemma of a Small State, vol. 1, ed. P. V. J. Jayasekera (New Delhi: South Asian Publishers, Pvt. Ltd., 1992), p. 213.
27. Gamini Keerawella and Luxman Siriwardena, "Internal Dynamics in the Evolution of Sri Lankan Defense Policy: Some Observations," in Security Dilemma of a Small State, p. 252.
28. K. M. de Silva and Howard Wriggins, J. K. Jayawardene, p. 397.
29. Ashok Kapur with A. J. Wilson, Foreign Policies of India and Her Neighbours (London: Macmillan Press, Ltd., 1996), pp. 122-23.
30. Quoted in K. M. de Silva, Regional Powers and Small State Security, p. 27.
31. S. D. Muni, Pangs of Proximity, pp. 61-62, 68-69.
32. Ibid., p. 57.
33. Howard Wriggins considers such small state-major power alliances as one means by which the former have historically sought to gain leverage in the international system. See W. Howard Wriggins and Gunnar Adler-Karlsson, Reducing Global Inequities (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1978), pp. 77-85.
34. Gamini Keerawella and Luxman Siriwardena, "Internal Dynamics," p. 250.
35. K. M. de Silva and Howard Wriggins, J. R. Jayawardene, p. 399.
36. Maya Chadda, Ethnicity; Security, and Separatism in India, p. 159.