An Introduction to the Post-War Peace Building and Development in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Society is built on diverse social networks. This diversity lies in almost all aspect of social connections, such as race, ethnicity, religion, culture, customs, tradition, gender, political ideologies, professions etc. Social cohesion and social peace play a vital role in such a pluralistic society. Sri Lanka has been considered as a country with a multi-cultural society. Silva and Hettige (2010, p.2) write that “as a theory and practice, multiculturalism refers to a broad set of ideas, policies and principles favourable to the development and peaceful coexistence of a plurality of cultures. It seeks to promote tolerance, mutual respect and free flow of ideas across cultures in ways that enrich them all without necessarily undermining each other”. Classical definition of conflict is that “It is an intrinsic and inevitable aspect of social change. It is an expression of heterogeneity of interests, values, beliefs that arise as new formations generated by social change come up against inherited constraints. But the way we deal with conflict is a matter of habit and choice.”(Miall, Oliver, & Woodhouse, 1999).