Browsing by Author "Samarakoon, A.K."

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    Chinese resurgence in world politics and its implications on South Asian region with special reference to Sino-Sri Lanka relations since the year 2000
    (University of Kelaniya, 2011) Samarakoon, A.K.
    This paper explores China‟s external policy toward South Asia and its implications on the regional affairs using Sino-Sri Lanka relations as a case study. During the last two decades there has been a power transition in world politics with the rise of China. The economic success of China is being converted into political and military powers projecting it as a prospective great power in the Asian region and the international scene. China‟s rise certainly has global and regional implications for power politics and this study problematizes how Chinese resurgence affects the regional politics in South Asia which also includes the dominant presence of India. The dilemma that the small states in South Asia have faced in shifting their allegiances drives us to apply the theories of practical political cooperation in exchange for material gains. With the construction of marine power bases and expansion of trade and economic assistance, China has attracted several states in India‟s neighborhood like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The major theoretical problem of the study then becomes why states value more of the material gains from rising extra-regional powers than the existing regional balance of power in their own region. The study mainly touches the pragmatic issue of Chinese influence on South Asian states and its implications on regional politics. The study proposes an analytical and interpretative method in order to investigate the growing presence of China in South Asia and its impact on regional politics. The case of Sino-Sri Lanka relations provides an empirical basis for the study and will be looked at from a historical and analytical point of view.
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    Political-economy of decentralized governance: a study of Provincial Council System in Sri Lanka
    (Culture, Globalization and the Developing World, 2nd ICSS, 2013) Abeysinghe, A.M.N.C.; Samarakoon, A.K.
    The state-centered approaches to development introduced after the World War II failed to achieve the expected outcomes in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Consequently, as an alternative approach, an innovative institutional governance structure emerged and it was a multi-dimensional, politico-economic solution to this state-centered developmental impasse. Thus, decentralized governance began to be accepted by various international agencies worldwide, and many national governments began to adopt it at the end of 1970s and early 1980s. The factors that have led to the introduction of decentralized governance are country specific. Sri Lanka adopted a framework of decentralized governance and introduced a devolution reform under the 13th amendment to its constitution in 1987. The Provincial Council (PC) reform was introduced at a crucial juncture when the state-centered governance paradigm was reaching a crisis point and amidst international pressures to adopt decentralization as a means to resolve the ethnic conflict. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the structural, procedural changes in governance apparatus and to evaluate the efficacy of those changes in devolved service provisions brought about by the PC reform. In order to achieve this objective, the study analyzes the secondary and primary data collected from published and unpublished sources employing mixed methods. This study explored the structural and procedural changes in political, financial and administrative spheres that could be vital for effective local service provision, brought about by the Provincial Councils reform. Though, these structural and functional changes appeared in the governance apparatus on the surface is significant, many drawbacks detrimental to the smooth implementation of the reform also have been spotted, particularly regarding the power sharing mechanism, the listing of shared powers, and the role of the central government. Legal constrains, central control over provincial discretions, parallel administration structures, incompetent governance, and heavy dependence on central finance are the main draw backs that have affected the PCs.