Deployment of the military in post-conflict reconstruction: implication for democratization in Sri Lanka

Abstract

How does post-conflict militarization affect democratization in Sri Lanka? In 2009, Sri Lanka ended three decades of counter-insurgency action with the separatist LTTE. Yet the military remains active in the reconstruction processes. Critics describe the deployment of the military in post-conflict reconstruction as an impediment to democratization. This thesis, however, argues that the deployment of the military in post-conflict reconstruction both positively and negatively affects democratization processes in Sri Lanka. This thesis also studies the political developments from 1948 to 2016 that resulted in the deployment of the military internally. Then, it analyzes the effects of such military roles toward democratic consolidation and civil-military relations within the frameworks of analysis provided by Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan, and Thomas C. Bruneau and Florina Cristiana Matei. This thesis finds that post-conflict militarization positively affects democratic consolidation in the short term but negatively in the long term. It also finds both positive and negative effects toward democratic civil-military relations. Sri Lanka presents a unique case because militarization helped the economic growth of the country during the conflict. Hence, this research will contribute to the studies on the effects of post-conflict militarization toward democratization theoretically, and in the South Asian context.