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HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES Harvard Authors Contribute to Book on Sri Lanka Conflict
As war-torn Sri Lanka approaches national elections, a new book examines the causes of its civil war and the possibilities for peace. Creating Peace in Sri Lanka: Civil War and Reconciliation (Brookings, 1999), a book about that country’s bloody 16-year-old civil war, is the first product of the new Program on Intrastate Conflict, Conflict Prevention, and Conflict Resolution of the Belfer Center of Science and International Affairs in the Kennedy School. The book analyzes the devastating war and explores ways of bringing an end to the violence and hate.Five Harvard authors have chapters in the volume, which chronicle Sri Lanka’s descent into prolonged civil war. Their contributions also suggest how sustainable peace can be achieved through "devolutionary constitutional engineering," wise political statesmanship, and third-party intervention. Sri Lanka is in the bitter grip of a relentless civil war between a government dominated by the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil Tigers, insurgent guerrillas who claim to represent the country’s Tamil minority. With a national election announced for December, the Tigers in October and November have attacked and overrun government outposts and towns with renewed fervor. Robert I. Rotberg, director of the Program, edited the book and contributed a chapter on the war and its chances for diplomatic resolution. David Little, T.J. Dermot Dunphy Professor of the Practice of Religion, Ethnicity, and International Conflict in the Divinity School wrote the book’s chapter on the war’s origin in ethnic and religious conflict. Donna Hicks and William Weisberg of the Program on International Conflict and Resolution in the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs contributed a chapter on third-party intervention. Donald Snodgrass of the Harvard Institute for International Development wrote one of the two analyses of Sri Lanka’s remarkable economic performance.Six Sri Lankan authors, including the late Neelan Tiruchelvam, M.P., wrote chapters on Tamil-Sinhalese differences, on economic and educational issues, and on how devolutionary constitutional processes could create an atmosphere of durable peace. Tiruchelvam, a graduate of the Harvard Law School, was killed by a car bomb this summer. The book is dedicated to him.The volume is published by the Brookings Institution Press, the World Peace Foundation, and the Belfer Center.
Copyright 1999 President and Fellows of Harvard College |