Mediating the margins: the role of brokers and the Eastern Provincial Council in Sri Lanka's post-war transition. Issue 6 (1st November 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Goodhand, Jonathan; Klem, Bart; Walton, Oliver
• Is Part Of: Third world thematics. Volume 1:Issue 6(2016)
• Page Start: 817
• Page End: 836
• Publication Date: 2016-11-01
• Subjects: Sri Lanka -- conflict -- decentralisation -- local governance -- brokers -- transition; Developing countries -- Economic conditions -- Periodicals; Developing countries -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; Globalization -- Periodicals; 338.90091724
• DOI: Https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23802014.2016.1302816
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2379-9978

Abstract

Abstract: This article explores the political dynamics surrounding the Eastern Provincial Council during Sri Lanka's post-war transition. We show that decentralisation constituted an intervention in conflict, rather than a solution to it. It creates new institutional arenas to re-negotiate centre-periphery relations, resulting in new forms of political mobilisation. There are crucial spatial dimensions to these contentions: it involves contested territorialisation of power, scalar manoeuvring, and boundary drawing. These are explored in Sri Lanka's Eastern Province, with particular reference to the role performed by brokers in mediating centre-periphery relations, through and alongside the Provincial Council.