Democracy, Commitment Problems and Managing Ethnic Violence: The Case of India and Sri Lanka

Terrorism and Political Violence

Volumn 12, Issue 3-4, 2000, Pages 135-159

  Crenshaw, Martha ^a  

^a WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0034558649     PISSN: 09546553     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09546550008427573     Document Type: Article

References (78)

1. Barbara F. Walter, 'The Critical Barrier to Civil War Settlement', International Organization 51/3 (Summer 1997) pp.335-65; James D. Fearon, 'Commitment Problems and the Spread of Ethnic Conflict' (unpublished paper, University of Chicago, 1996); and William I. Zartman (ed.), Elusive Peace (Washington: Brookings, 1995). See also Barbara F. Walter and Jack Snyder (eds), Civil Wars, Insecurity, and Intervention (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999) , especially Walter's 'Designing Transitions from Civil War', pp.38-69.
2. Barbara F. Walter, 'The Critical Barrier to Civil War Settlement', International Organization 51/3 (Summer 1997) pp.335-65; James D. Fearon, 'Commitment Problems and the Spread of Ethnic Conflict' (unpublished paper, University of Chicago, 1996); and William I. Zartman (ed.), Elusive Peace (Washington: Brookings, 1995). See also Barbara F. Walter and Jack Snyder (eds), Civil Wars, Insecurity, and Intervention (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999) , especially Walter's 'Designing Transitions from Civil War', pp.38-69.
3. Barbara F. Walter, 'The Critical Barrier to Civil War Settlement', International Organization 51/3 (Summer 1997) pp.335-65; James D. Fearon, 'Commitment Problems and the Spread of Ethnic Conflict' (unpublished paper, University of Chicago, 1996); and William I. Zartman (ed.), Elusive Peace (Washington: Brookings, 1995). See also Barbara F. Walter and Jack Snyder (eds), Civil Wars, Insecurity, and Intervention (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999) , especially Walter's 'Designing Transitions from Civil War', pp.38-69.
4. Barbara F. Walter, 'The Critical Barrier to Civil War Settlement', International Organization 51/3 (Summer 1997) pp.335-65; James D. Fearon, 'Commitment Problems and the Spread of Ethnic Conflict' (unpublished paper, University of Chicago, 1996); and William I. Zartman (ed.), Elusive Peace (Washington: Brookings, 1995). See also Barbara F. Walter and Jack Snyder (eds), Civil Wars, Insecurity, and Intervention (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999) , especially Walter's 'Designing Transitions from Civil War', pp.38-69.
5. Barbara F. Walter, 'The Critical Barrier to Civil War Settlement', International Organization 51/3 (Summer 1997) pp.335-65; James D. Fearon, 'Commitment Problems and the Spread of Ethnic Conflict' (unpublished paper, University of Chicago, 1996); and William I. Zartman (ed.), Elusive Peace (Washington: Brookings, 1995). See also Barbara F. Walter and Jack Snyder (eds), Civil Wars, Insecurity, and Intervention (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999) , especially Walter's 'Designing Transitions from Civil War', pp.38-69.
6. Zartman, ibid., pp.343-4.
7. Walter (note 1) p.361. See also Sisk (note 14).
8. Yaacov Y. I. Vertzberger, 'National Capabilities and Foreign Military Intervention: A Policy-Relevant Theoretical Analysis', International Interactions 17/4 (1992) pp.361-6.
9. Vertzberger, ibid., p.352.
10. Harvey Waterman, 'Political Order and the 'Settlement' of Civil Wars', in Roy Licklider (ed.), Stopping the Killing: How Civil Wars End (New York: New York University Press, 1993) pp.292-302.
11. Vertzberger (note 4) p.361.
12. They also impose constraints on the ability to mediate: see Thomas Prineen, Intermediaries in International Conflict (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992) pp.222-4.
13. Vertzberger (note 4) p.356.
14. Ariel E. Levite, Bruce W. Jentleson and Larry Berman (eds), Foreign military intervention: the dynamics of protracted conflict (New York: Columbia University Press, 1992).
15. See particularly Charles A. Kupchan, 'Getting In: The Initial Stages of Military Intervention'
16. and Eliot A. Cohen, 'Dynamics of Military Intervention', in Levite, Jentleson and Berman (eds) (note 10) pp.241-60 and 261-84, respectively.
17. George W. Downs, 'The Lessons of Disengagement'
18. in Levite, Jentleson and Berman (eds), ibid., pp.285-300.
19. Vertzberger (note 4) p.362.
20. Timothy D. Sisk, in Power Sharing and International Mediation in Ethnic Conflicts (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace and Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict, 1996) pp.77-86, argues for power-sharing. An outside guarantee might not be needed if the settlement were imposed on the defeated party by a clearly superior victor, but one can imagine tenuous balances of power where the winner cannot maintain a peace that has been imposed.
21. Roy Licklider, 'The Consequences of Negotiated Settlements in Civil Wars, 1945-1993', American Political Science Review 89/3 (September 1995) pp.681-90.
22. Richard K. Betts, 'The Delusion of Impartial Intervention', Foreign Affairs 73/6 (November/December 1994) pp.31-2.
23. Mark Peceny, 'Two Paths to the Promotion of Democracy during U.S. Military Interventions', International Studies Quarterly 39/3 (September 1995) pp.371-401.
24. Walter (note 1) pp.361-2, and Zartman (note 1) pp.344-5. See also Princen (note 8).
25. Betts (note 16) p.20.
26. Ibid., p.28.
27. See e.g. Alan J. Bullion, India, Sri Lanka and the Tamil Crisis 1976-1994: An International Perspective (London: Pinter, 1995) and Mahnaz Ispahani, 'India's Role in Sri Lanka's Ethnic Conflict', in Levite, Jentleson and Berman (eds) (note 10) pp.209-40. See also Maya Chadda, Ethnicity, Security, and Separatism in India (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997) and Dennis Austin, Democracy and Violence in India and Sri Lanka (Chatham House Paper, Royal Institute of International Affairs. London: Pinter Publishers, 1994).
28. See e.g. Alan J. Bullion, India, Sri Lanka and the Tamil Crisis 1976-1994: An International Perspective (London: Pinter, 1995) and Mahnaz Ispahani, 'India's Role in Sri Lanka's Ethnic Conflict', in Levite, Jentleson and Berman (eds) (note 10) pp.209-40. See also Maya Chadda, Ethnicity, Security, and Separatism in India (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997) and Dennis Austin, Democracy and Violence in India and Sri Lanka (Chatham House Paper, Royal Institute of International Affairs. London: Pinter Publishers, 1994).
29. See e.g. Alan J. Bullion, India, Sri Lanka and the Tamil Crisis 1976-1994: An International Perspective (London: Pinter, 1995) and Mahnaz Ispahani, 'India's Role in Sri Lanka's Ethnic Conflict', in Levite, Jentleson and Berman (eds) (note 10) pp.209-40. See also Maya Chadda, Ethnicity, Security, and Separatism in India (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997) and Dennis Austin, Democracy and Violence in India and Sri Lanka (Chatham House Paper, Royal Institute of International Affairs. London: Pinter Publishers, 1994).
30. See e.g. Alan J. Bullion, India, Sri Lanka and the Tamil Crisis 1976-1994: An International Perspective (London: Pinter, 1995) and Mahnaz Ispahani, 'India's Role in Sri Lanka's Ethnic Conflict', in Levite, Jentleson and Berman (eds) (note 10) pp.209-40. See also Maya Chadda, Ethnicity, Security, and Separatism in India (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997) and Dennis Austin, Democracy and Violence in India and Sri Lanka (Chatham House Paper, Royal Institute of International Affairs. London: Pinter Publishers, 1994).
31. India also issued public statements of concern about the treatment of Tamils in Sri Lanka, but this involvement was minor compared to active intervention.
32. J. N. Dixit, Assignment Colombo (Delhi: Konark Publishers, 1998) p.328.
33. James Manor, 'Politics: Ambiguity, Disillusionment, and Ferment', in Marshall M. Bouton and Philip Oldenburg (eds), India Briefing, 1988 (Boulder: Westview, 1988) pp. 19-21.
34. Dixit (note 23) pp.336-37.
35. K. M. De Silva and S. W. R. de A. Samarasinghe (eds), Peace Accords and Ethnic Conflict (London: Pinter, 1993) p.127.
36. Dixit (note 23) pp. 188-9.
37. Donald Horowitz, a personal communication, quoted in Sisk (note 14) p.94.
38. See Sisk (note 14) pp.113-14; also Zartman (note 1)
39. Walter (1997) pp.340-41.
40. Ibid., p.362.
41. United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, 'Managing Arms in Peace Process: The Issues', Disarmament and Conflict Resolution Project (New York and Geneva, 1996). The controversy over implementation of the Good Friday accords in Northern Ireland owing to the IRA's reluctance to 'decommission' is a further example of the significance of disarmament.
42. Dixit (note 23) p. 194. He also adds: 'There is a theory bandied about that India had planned the sending of its armed forces to Sri Lanka months in advance of the negotiations and signing of the Agreement. This is not true.' See p. 186.
43. K. M. De Silva, Regional Powers and Small State Security: India and Sri Lanka, 1977-90 (Washington, DC: The Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Baltimore/The John Hopkins University Press, 1995) p. 125.
44. Dixit (note 23) pp.337-8.
45. See Depinder Singh (Lt. Gen.), The IPKF in Sri Lanka (Noida (i.e. New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, UP, India): Trishul Publications, 1991). Of course, in these later observations he had the benefit of hindsight.
46. Stephen Peter Rosen, in Societies and Military Power: India and Its Armies (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996) p.253, claims that the Indian military was not good at quick responses and that cooperation among units was difficult, which he attributes to social fragmentation rather than the democratic process.
47. S. D. Muni, Pangs of proximity: India and Sri Lanka's ethnic crisis (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1993) pp.134-5.
48. Dixit (note 23) p.212.
49. Ibid., p.218.
50. Muni (note 38) p. 142.
51. Dixit (note 23) p.339.
52. Stephen P. Cohen, The Military and Indian Democracy', in Atul Kohli (ed.), India's Democracy: An Analysis of Changing Stale-Society Relations (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990); Ragu G. C. Thomas, Democracy, Security, and Development in India (New York: St Martin's Press, 1996). See also Rosen (note 37).
53. Stephen P. Cohen, The Military and Indian Democracy', in Atul Kohli (ed.), India's Democracy: An Analysis of Changing Stale-Society Relations (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990); Ragu G. C. Thomas, Democracy, Security, and Development in India (New York: St Martin's Press, 1996). See also Rosen (note 37).
54. Stephen P. Cohen, The Military and Indian Democracy', in Atul Kohli (ed.), India's Democracy: An Analysis of Changing Stale-Society Relations (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990); Ragu G. C. Thomas, Democracy, Security, and Development in India (New York: St Martin's Press, 1996). See also Rosen (note 37).
55. Dixit (note 23) pp.233-4.
56. Ibid., pp.227-8.
57. Ibid., p.228.
58. For a discussion of this problem, see Muni (note 38) pp.144-5, and Dixit (note 23) p.252.
59. Dixit (note 23) pp.237 and 248.
60. It is interesting that one of the LTTE's complaints was Indian media criticism; Dixit promised to restrain the official media. Ibid., pp.203 and 205.
61. Ibid., pp.224ff.
62. Ibid., p.253
63. Ibid., p.254.
64. S. C. Sardeshpande (Lt. Gen.), Assignment Jaffna (New Delhi: Lancer Publishers, 1992)p.89.
65. Ibid.
66. Dixit (note 23) pp.268-9.
67. Ibid., p.269.
68. Ibid., pp.221-2.
69. Ibid., pp.282-5.
70. Ibid., pp.277-8.
71. Ibid., p.281.
72. Ibid., p.290.
73. Lloyd I. Rudolph, The Faltering Novitiate: Rajiv at Home and Abroad in 1988', in Marshall M. Bouton and Philip Oldenburg (eds), India Briefing. 1989 (Boulder: Westview, 1989) p. 14.
74. Ibid., p.25.
75. Dixit (note 23) p.290.
76. Sardeshpande (note 53) pp.88-91.
77. Muni (note 38, p. 152) says that Gandhi and Jayewardene had already agreed on a phased withdrawal in December 1988, immediately after the elections to the provincial councils. However, he says, the Sri Lankan army asked for a slowdown. India's intention would scarcely have been encouraging to the new provincial government.
78. Atul Kohli, 'Epilogue: India's Democracy under Rajiv Gandhi, 1985-1989', in Atul Kohli (ed.), India's Democracy: An Analysis of Changing State-Society Relations (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990) p.331.