The Failure of Constitution-making in Sri Lanka (2015–2019)

IF 1.3 Q1 AREA STUDIES

Millennial Asia Pub Date : 2022-05-25 DOI:10.1177/09763996221087017

Nadarajah Pushparajah, Malini Balamayuran

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

When the coalition government known as the National Unity Government of 2015 initiated the promulgation of a new constitution for Sri Lanka, it had embraced transparent and inclusive procedures that were never rehearsed in the constitutional politics since independence. As part of the progress, within one and half years’ time, the members of the steering committee set up by constitutional assembly, presented the interim proposals on the new constitution. Impressive progress was made by the government, yet the task of moving towards a new constitution experienced a deadlock and had to be discontinued. This article examines constraints experienced by the National Unity Government during 2015 and 2019 that at some point sabotaged the project of constitution-making. By utilizing the insights of Jon Elster in this regard, this qualitative study finds that political parties serving at both constitutional assembly and parliament have influenced the progress of the constitution-making and contributed to its failure. This study reveals that group interest and permanent passion (the loyalty to their own ethnic population) have encouraged certain groups and factions within the constitutional assembly and the parliament to wield it as a tool of political capital. Therefore, Government of Sri Lanka should rethink the parliament serving as constitutional assembly and adopt compulsory equilibrium between publicity and secrecy.

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斯里兰卡宪法制定的失败（2015-2019）

当2015年被称为全国团结政府的联合政府开始为斯里兰卡颁布新宪法时，它采用了自独立以来从未在宪政政治中排练过的透明和包容的程序。作为进展的一部分，在一年半的时间内，由制宪会议设立的指导委员会的成员提出了关于新宪法的临时建议。政府取得了令人印象深刻的进展，但制定新宪法的任务陷入僵局，不得不中止。本文考察了民族团结政府在2015年和2019年期间所经历的制约因素，这些制约因素在某种程度上破坏了制宪项目。通过利用Jon Elster在这方面的见解，本定性研究发现，在制宪会议和议会中任职的政党影响了制宪进程，并促成了制宪失败。这项研究表明，群体利益和持久的激情(对自己民族人口的忠诚)鼓励了制宪会议和议会中的某些团体和派别将其作为政治资本的工具。因此，斯里兰卡政府应重新考虑作为制宪会议的议会，并在公开与保密之间采取强制性平衡。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Millennial Asia AREA STUDIES-

CiteScore

4.50

自引率

12.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： Millennial Asia: An International Journal of Asian Studies is a multidisciplinary, refereed biannual journal of the Association of Asia Scholars (AAS)–an association of the alumni of the Asian Scholarship Foundation (ASF). It aims to encourage multifaceted, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research on Asia, in order to understand its fast changing context as a growth pole of global economy. By providing a forum for Asian scholars situated globally, it promotes dialogue between the global academic community, civil society and policy makers on Asian issues. The journal examines Asia on a regional and comparative basis, emphasizing patterns and tendencies that go beyond national borders and are globally relevant. Modern and contemporary Asia has witnessed dynamic transformations in cultures, societies, economies and political institutions, among others. It confronts issues of collective identity formation, ecological crisis, rapid economic change and resurgence of religion and communal identifies while embracing globalization. An analysis of past experiences can help produce a deeper understanding of contemporary change. In particular, the journal is interested in locating contemporary changes within a historical perspective, through the use of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches. This way, it hopes to promote comparative studies involving Asia’s various regions. The journal brings out both thematic and general issues and the thrust areas are: Asian integration, Asian economies, sociology, culture, politics, governance, security, development issues, arts and literature and any other such issue as the editorial board may deem fit. The core fields include development encompassing agriculture, industry, regional trade, social sectors like health and education and development policy across the region and in specific countries in a comparative perspective.