Thematic

Blueprint for a Rational Government in Sri Lanka

A ‘Blueprint for a Rational Government in Sri Lanka‘, created by Verité Research and Manthri.lk, seeks to implement the recommendations from the White Paper on “A Rational Method for Cabinet Formation in Sri Lanka“, published in 2020. It lists down the duties and functions, institutions and acts to be implemented under the 15 ministries proposed in the annexures of the White Paper, following revisions that were supported by extensive expert consultation. This document is the blueprint by which governments can solve 3 key issues relating to irrational cabinet formation: 1. Misalignment of subjects Unrelated subjects being grouped together under one ministry. 2. Fragmentation of subjects Related subjects being split across different ministries. 3. Not having a fixed structure for ministries and their institutions Ministry purviews often change alongside ministerial appointments and shuffles, resulting in institutions shifting from ministry to ministry. The document takes on the form of an extraordinary gazette, and serves as a starting point for a more effectively and efficiently structured form of government.

Religious violence against Christians: Disruptions and Distractions

Ethno-religious violence is an enduring feature in Sri Lanka irrespective of the changes to the country’s socio-political and economic landscapes. This study offers insights into key patterns of violence directed against Christians between November 2021 and October 2022.  A total of 75 incidents of anti-Christian violence were recorded during this period.

Patterns and Risks of Religious Violence Against Christians (October 2020 – October 2021)

Ethno-religious violence has persisted in post-war Sri Lanka irrespective of changes to the country’s political leadership. The current study unpacks the macro-level and micro-level patterns of religious violence against Christians. For this purpose, Verité Research analysed incidents of religious violence that were recorded by the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka.

Prejudice and Patronage: An Analysis of Incidents of Violence against Christians, Muslims, Hindus in Sri Lanka (September 2019 – September 2020)

Ethno-religious violence is an enduring feature of Sri Lanka history regardless of changes to the country’s political leadership. This study offers insights in key trends and drivers of religious violence from September 2019 to September 2020. A total of 63 incidents of violence against Christians as well as episodes of discrimination against Muslims and Hindus are analysed.

A Rational Method for Cabinet Formation in Sri Lanka: A White Paper

Ministries are the overarching bodies that house relevant government institutions and functions within a particular subject area. They are responsible for the formulation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of national-level policies and strategies in their assigned sectors (such as health, education, and agriculture). In this regard, they coordinate with the institutions under their purview. Therefore, ministries—and by extension ministers—are vital to determining the institutional effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery by the public sector. However, public sentiment suggests otherwise. Public sector inefficiency has been a long-standing issue that successive governments in Sri Lanka have failed to address effectively. The general perception of the public is that the elected representatives who run government make an already inefficient system worse, and this perception is becoming more entrenched with time. The present paper seeks to address this gap between expectations of the role of ministers and ministries and reality as experienced and perceived by society. It highlights two types of problems that comprise the irrationality of present cabinet formation and seeks to address how effective and efficient governance in the public sector can be achieved. A Blueprint document that proposes a formulated rational structure for government, building on and refining the recommendations of the…

Inaction and Impunity: Incidents of Religious Violence Targeting Christians, Muslims and Hindus (2015-2019)

Ethno-religious violence in Sri Lanka is a chronic and systemic problem that has continued despite successive changes in government. This study examines the key trends of incidents of violence faced by minority Christian, Muslim and Hindu groups in Sri Lanka between 2015 and 2019

වැඩකරන රටකට – වැඩක් කළ හැකි කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයක්

ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවේ රජයේ ඵලදායීතාවය සහ කාර්යක්ෂමතාවයට බෙහෙවින් බලපාන කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයේ අමාත්‍යංශ ඇති කෙරෙන ආකාරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් කළ පර්යේෂණයක තොරතුරු පසුගියදා ජනගත කරන ලදී.

ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ මැතිවරණ කාලය තුළ පුද්ගලික මාධ්‍ය නියාමනය කිරීමට මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාව සතු බලතල

මැතිවරණ සමයක දී මාධ්‍ය නියාමනය කිරීම සදහා මාර්ගෝපදේශයන් නිකුත් කිරීමෙහි ලා ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාවේ මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාව මෙරට ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන්ම බලගන්වා තිබේ. මැතිවරණ සමයක දී මාධ්‍ය නියාමනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් වර්තමානයේ පවත්නා කතිකාවත වඩාත්ම කේන්ද්‍රගතව තිබෙන්නේ  රාජ්‍ය මාධ්‍යයන් නියාමනය කිරීම සදහා මෙම මාර්ගෝපදේශයන් භාවිතාවන ආකාරය පිළිබදවය. නමුත් එපමණකින් සීමා නොවී මැතිවරණ සමයක දී, පෞද්ගලික හිමිකාරීත්වයක් ඇති මාධ්‍ය නියාමනය කිරීමට පවා ශී‍්‍ර ලංකා ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාව බලගන්වා තිබෙන ආකාරය මෙම දැනුම්වත් කිරීමේ සටහනින් අධ්‍යනය කෙරේ.

Powers of the Election Commission to Regulate Privately-Owned Media during Elections in Sri Lanka

The Election Commission of Sri Lanka is constitutionally empowered to regulate the media during an election period by issuing media guidelines.The present discourse on media regulation during elections focuses on how these guidelines have been used to regulate state-owned media. This briefing note examines how the Election Commission is also constitutionally empowered to regulate the privately-owned media during an election period.

Mapping Sri Lanka’s Political Parties

The original version of this report was commissioned by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy to assist in its work in Sri Lanka with the Sri Lankan parliament and political parties. The opinions expressed and contents of this report are not necessarily those held by Westminster Foundation for Democracy. The report was prepared by the politics research practice at Verité Research with Charudaththa Ekanayake functioning as principal researcher under the overall editorial supervision of Janeen Fernando.