Political Participation in Multi-Cultural Context: A Study of Ampara District in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The major objective of this study is to identify the nature of political participation of different groups in a multicultural communal context. The study was carried out based in the Ampara District in the eastern province of Sri Lanka. The Ampara district has been a multicultural space from the formation of the district in 1961 and has been influential in electoral politics in ethnic context. This study has incorporated both primary and secondary data collected from different sources. The collected data has been descriptively analyzed. The study has found that „patron-client relationship‟ of the political culture working as a mobilizing initiator for electoral turnout among the three major ethnic groups in the district. However, establishment of the distinctive political party for their own, Muslims of the coastal area of the district marked a major departure point of the community‟s pattern of political participation. This development was a reaction to intense ethnic conflict between two major constituent ethnic groups of the country, i.e. Sinhalese and Tamils. The study has also found that there is a different pattern of political participation between the traditional inhabitant Sinhalese and the settlers in colonization schemes in the district. The traditional villagers show less interest in electoral politics while Sinhalese in the colonies have been very active. This is a shared feature of both Muslims and Sinhalese living in the colonies. On the other hand, the Tamils living in the area tends to amend to the political orders of the Tamils political elite based in Colombo and Jaffna. They tended to isolate themselves from other political parties. The study concludes that until Sri Lanka find a lasting political solution to the ethnic issue, segregation and fragmentation in multi-cultural context remains the pattern of electoral politics and building an overall Sri Lankan identity is next to impossible.