An Overview of Sri Lanka

Abstract

In 1948, when Sri Lanka (then Ceylon)¹ gained political independence from Britain, the knowledgeable observer would have felt confident in predicting that the country would quickly adjust to its new sovereign and independent status. Unlike India, Sri Lanka attained independence rather untraumatically. Practically speaking, Sri Lanka’s independence followed on the coat-tails of the Indian struggle. The British left amicably and were perceived as a trustworthy ally by both Sinhalese and Tamil political elites. Sri Lanka enjoyed a high literacy rate and a politically sophisticated electorate which had exercised universal adult franchise since the early 1930s. In the early 1980s, it was still common for Sri Lanka to be labelled a ‘model Third World democracy’ with a robust parliamentary system which regularly voted the incumbent party out of office. Although there were debates between ‘welfareists’ and ‘economic liberals’ over the role of the state in the economy (Moore 1990), the overall quality of life was high. Indeed, Sri Lanka was an envied anomaly because of its ability to maintain such a relatively high standard of living despite its low GNP per capita.²