Abstract:
Sri Lanka has been undergoing a conflict, a protracted one at that, which essentially
goes back to the pre and post colonial times. The texture of the conflict is different and
critics have analyzed it in different perspectives. In this paper, the attempt is to analyze
the conflict as a structural aspect of governance ultimately resulting in destabilizing whatis
termed as national integration. Governance within a demarcated democratic space
ought to be carried out in accordance with what is known as a constitution. A constitution
provides the basic framework in which a state or any other organization is governed by.
Enacted by using the concept titled as sovereignty, constitutionalism is the integral aspect
pertaining to the governance of a polity today. To add to this, when the constitution fails,
it directly impacts the notion of national integration. Thus, when there is an essential
problem/crisis within the rules of governance enacted by the constitution, it is evident that
the administration of the. state will inevitably suffer and that it will counter any attempt to
build up a nation state based on one country one nation bearing equal citizen with equal
opportunities. Thus, it is in these lines that I attempt to analyze the conflict within Sri
Lanka. To take the discourse a bit further, the constitutional crises in Sri Lanka starting
from 1833 down to 1978 have played a fundamental role in destabilizing governance and
fundamentally acting against the building up of a nation. I contend within this paper that
this is essentially due to the fact that the constitutions in Sri Lanka failed to have a proper
constitutional philosophy and ideology when they were drafted and enacted. The lack
of a socio, economic and a political philosophy coupled with ethno national tendencies
brought about a severe crisis within the polity. Thus, it is on these lines that I hope to
analyze the conflict within Sri Lanka.