The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. Unitary state in a plural society

The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka has been disputed in several possible ways. Political analysts as well as scholars have tried to analyze it from several perspectives. In the renewed attempts of a political solution, most proposals for Sri Lanka were focused on the federal model. It should be noted, however, that there is no single unified model of federation that is applicable everywhere. The basic notion of federation, involving within a single political system the combination of shared rule for some purposes and self-rule for others, so that neither is subordinate to the other, has been applied in different ways to fi t different circumstances. This paper tries to cope with the specific circumstances of social, racial and ethnic divisions in the Sri Lankan society. It will be argued that the constitutional system inherited from the British is internally dysfunctional, and is, therefore, one of the main powers propelling the political conflict in the state