Asoka Bandarage – författare

The book provides a detailed historically-based analysis of the origin, evolution and potential resolution of the civil conflict in Sri Lanka over the struggle to establish a separate state in its Northern and Eastern provinces. This conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the secessionist LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) is one of the world’s most intractable contemporary armed struggles. The internationally banned LTTE is considered the prototype of modern terrorism. It is known to have introduced suicide bombing to the world, and recently became the first terrorist organization ever to acquire an air force.The ‘iron law of ethnicity’ – the assumption that cultural difference inevitably leads to conflict – has been reinforced by the 9/11 attacks and conflicts like the one in Sri Lanka. However, the connections among ethnic difference, conflict, and terrorism are not automatic. This book broadens the discourse on the separatist conflict in Sri Lanka by moving beyond the familiar bipolar Sinhala versus Tamil ethnic antagonism to show how the form and content of ethnicity are shaped by historical social forces. It develops a multipolar analysis which takes into account diverse ethnic groups, intra-ethnic, social class, caste and other variables at the local, regional and international levels. Overall, this book presents a conceptual framework useful for comparative global conflict analysis and resolution, shedding light on a host of complex issues such as terrorism, civil society, diasporas, international intervention and secessionism.

It has been widely assumed that over-population is one of the root causes of global crisis; even amongst feminist and environmental movements, the common wisdom on population has never been seriously critiqued. This book provides that critique; it gives a historical overview of the population question and places the population-poverty-environment-security debate within a broad theoretical perspective.The first part of the book looks at conventional ideologies of population control - from malthusianism to the contraceptive revolution. In part two, the author develops an alternative analysis of ‘overpopulation‘ - exploring the roots of the einvronmental crisis, violence and inequality en route. Critiquing capitalism, industrialism, patriarchy and white supremacy, she shows how population control acts as another dimension of our essentially hierarchical world order - and one that is moving us inexorably towards violence and destruction.Finally, Asoka Bandarage explores new global visions and efforts towards peace, justice and ecology - efforts that place human and planetary reproduction above economic production. Arguing for a new partnership paradigm which stresses the interconnectedness of life, the book‘s political significance lies in the synthesis of third world, feminist, socialist and ecological thinking and solutions.A major contribution to the socio-historical analysis of population-poverty-environment relations, this book cuts across the North/South divide bringing to light the dialectics of gender, race and class on a global scale. As such it is essential reading for students and academics in women‘s, development and environment studies as well as in philosophy, social theory and courses on ethnic relations.

This book provides a broad picture of Sri Lanka’s on-going political and economic crisis as the culmination of several centuries of colonial and neo-colonial developments. The book presents the Sri Lankan crisis as an exemplification of a broader global existential crisis facing more and more debt trapped countries, especially in the post-colonial Global South. The book's in-depth case study raises important questions pertaining to sovereignty and political and economic democracy in Sri Lanka and the world at large. The book also explores the emergence of the crisis in the context of the accelerating geopolitical conflict between China and the USA in the Indian Ocean. It ponders if the debt crisis, economic collapse and political destabilization in Sri Lanka were intentionally precipitated to the advantage of the Quadrilateral Alliance (USA, India, Australia and Japan). Moving beyond geopolitical rivalry, the book juxtaposes Sri Lanka’s political-economic crisis with the broader ecological crisis of climate change and sea-level rise. The book concludes with a consideration of the ethical dilemmas behind the debt and survival crisis in Sri Lanka and across the world. It points out a range of social movements and initiatives in Sri Lanka and the Global South which subscribe to collective and ecological alternatives and a Middle Path of sustainability and social justice.