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Catch-All Parties and Party-Voter Nexus in Sri Lanka

  • Book
  • © 2022

Overview

Authors:
  1. Pradeep Peiris

    1. Department of Political Science & Public Policy, University of Colombo, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka

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  • Maps the evolution of the party–voter nexus of the United National Party (UNP) and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)
  • Is the most up-to-date, systematic study analyzing Sri Lanka’s main political parties
  • Highlights the salience of personalities at the national as well as local levels in forming electoral support

Part of the book series: Politics of South Asia (POSAS)

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Pradeep Peiris
    Pages 1-29

  3. Dynamics of Party Organization at the Level of the Electorate

    • Pradeep Peiris
    Pages 31-80

  4. From Party Organization to Party Mobilization

    • Pradeep Peiris
    Pages 81-124

  5. Examining the Logic and Practice of Voting

    • Pradeep Peiris
    Pages 125-176

  6. Examining Party Allegiance

    • Pradeep Peiris
    Pages 177-219

  7. Desertion of the Party

    • Pradeep Peiris
    Pages 221-241

  8. Conclusion

    • Pradeep Peiris
    Pages 243-250

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 251-268
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Keywords

About this book

This book systematically maps the evolution of the party–voter nexus of the United National Party (UNP) and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). In doing so, it argues that these parties rely mostly on a complex Web of patronage-based networks to mobilise electorates. They employ informal and highly dynamic, loosely knit networks as their organisational structures at the local level. They mainly focus on mobilising voters through local political actors rather than maintaining clear party bases and membership schemes. The study highlights the salience of personalities at the national as well as local levels in forming electoral support for the parties. These individuals exploit their economic, social, and cultural capital to mobilise the most efficient network that would strengthen their party during elections. The study also analyses the emergence of two new coalition centres from within these traditional parties, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), and argues that these parties, though portraying themselves as new, have in fact retained the overall logic of the party–voter nexus by appropriating the organisational schemes and structures of their predecessors.


Reviews

"The changing dynamics in the relationship between political parties and voters in Sri Lanka is the thematic focus of this book. The analysis is presented as a case study of Sri Lanka’s two leading parties, United National Party and Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which had remained the country’s two dominant parties until last year. The book highlights how social, economic and political changes as well as ideological shifts have impacted the nature of Sri Lanka’s party system, organisational structures of the parties, social role of political parties, and the transformation of party-voter relationship, leading to the emergence of political parties as social entities quite different from the constructions of conventional theory. At a time when Sri Lanka’s democratic structures have entered a phase of uncertainty, this book provides valuable insights into some major shifts in Sri Lanka’s political sociology during the preceding period. This work is indeed a valuable addition tothe expanding body of political science scholarship on Sri Lanka by the new generation of Sri Lankan scholars."

-- Jayadeva Uyangoda, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka

 

"This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the dynamics of political parties and electoral politics in Sri Lanka. It provides new and in-depth analyses of the dominant parties, with particular attention to party organisation, electoral mobilisation, voter allegiance, and party defections at the local level."

-- Kristian Stokke, Professor of Human Geography, University of Oslo, Norway

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Political Science & Public Policy, University of Colombo, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka

    Pradeep Peiris

About the author

Pradeep Peiris is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Colombo, and Treasurer, Social Scientists’ Association, Sri Lanka. He was Founding Head of Social Indicator, Survey Research Arm of the Centre for Policy Alternatives and is currently the Sri Lanka Country Representative of Democracy Barometer.



Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Catch-All Parties and Party-Voter Nexus in Sri Lanka

  • Authors: Pradeep Peiris

  • Series Title: Politics of South Asia

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-4153-4

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Singapore

  • eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-16-4152-7Published: 21 November 2021

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-981-16-4155-8Published: 22 November 2022

  • eBook ISBN: 978-981-16-4153-4Published: 20 November 2021

  • Series ISSN: 2523-8345

  • Series E-ISSN: 2523-8353

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 268

  • Number of Illustrations: 2 b/w illustrations, 7 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Electoral Politics, Asian Politics

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