Understanding the polity and political dynamics in contemporary Sri Lanka: historical overview

Abstract

The study examined the polity and political dynamics in contemporary Sri Lanka by focussing on the historical evolution of the political dynamic. The polity is referred to as a politically organized unit. Politics are the activities associated with the governance of a politically organized unit. It deals with decision-making in a group or other forms of power relations. Since human beings decided to form a politically organized unit (state), the establishment of political institutions has occurred. Subsequently, due to the function of the political institutions, political actions, peoples‟ behaviors caused to determine the politics. Historical evidence shows the polity and politics of a country could dynamic according to the constitutional, political, economic, and socio-cultural factors. The problem of this study is that what are the significant dynamics that can be identified in contemporary Sri Lankan polity?. And what are the factors that affected political dynamics? The study is utilized the qualitative method. The data has been collected from secondary sources, and the content analysis method is used for the analysis. The study found that the political dynamics have occurred since the establishment of a state in the country. Moreover, the existing political system has been formulated by constitutional, political, and socio-economic reforms introduced by the British and post-independent governments. The escalation of political violence, consolidation of ethnic-nationalism, the rise of democratic authoritarianism, escalation of cyber politics, the collapse of the traditionally dominant political parties, and rice of new power coalitions have been identified as the political dynamics in contemporary Sri Lankan polity. It also found that the country‟s recent political dynamics have primarily been determined by the constitution introduced by 1978. Apart from that, ethnic unrest, nepotism, fragile political institutions, and lack of economic development have been instrumental for the political dynamics in contemporary Sri Lanka.