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Introduction to a study on politics of foreign aid in Sri Lanka
Combining foreign aid as a part of foreign policy of donor countries and state formation process in Sri Lanka
An article focusing on political implications of the defeat of Ranil Wickremasinghe
The need for new ideas in social policy in Sri Lanka and the need to focus on economic inequality
By questioning how we understand the state, this article proses a new way of looking at what do we mean by state security. Post-colonilal Sri Lankan is taken as an example to explain.
Global context interpreted as a world of global capitalism and major power conflicts. Brief comment on implications for the Sri Lankan state.
Advocating social justice and pluralism as central planks for progressive politics.
Sunil Bastian is a political economist. His current research interests are politics of state formation and development of capitalism in Sri Lanka. He has published widely, and is the editor of Devolution and Development in Sri Lanka (1994). He has co-edited with Nicola Bastian, Assessing Participation, A debate from South Asia (1996), and with Robin Luckham, Can Democracy be Designed? The Politics of Institutional Choice in Conflict-torn Societies (2003) published by Zed Press, London. His most recent publication is The Politics of Foreign Aid in Sri Lanka. Promoting Markets and Supporting Peace (2007). He has been a Senior Research Fellow at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo and chairperson of the Centre for Poverty Analysis. He has more than two decades of consultancy experience with a range of donor agencies.
Assessing participation - A debate from south asia
(1997) Co-editor, Assessing Participation: A Debate from South Asia. New Delhi: ITDG/Konark Publishers.
Sustaining a state in conflict: Politics of foreign aid in Sri Lanka, Colombo:ICES, (2018)
This study focuses on politics of foreign aid to Sri Lanka from developed countries of the West, Japan and multilateral agencies during the period 1977 to end of the armed conflict in 2009. This period is characterised by economic policies that emphasised liberal economic policies and an armed conflict resulting from the Tamil demand for a separate state. The study looks at politics of foreign aid in this context. Foreign aid played a dual role. It helped to sustain a state engaged in an armed conflict, while at the same time trying to promote a negotiated settlement. Therefore it was neither a do-gooder that liberals tend to believe nor a 'foreign devil that Sinhala nationalists like to see.
Can democracy be designed?
(2003) Co-editor, Can Democracy be Designed? London: Zed Books.
The politics of foreign Aid in Sri Lanka
(2007) Politics of foreign aid in Sri Lanka, Promoting markets and supporting peace. Colombo: International Centre for Ethnic Studies.
(1999) Poverty Alleviation through Smallholder Agriculture – Fighting a Loosing Battle?
Rethinking the idea of state security
(2010) Politics and Power in a Market Economy.
Reflections on state formation
Copyright @ 2025 Sunil Bastian.
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