Sri Lankan Republic at 40

Reflections on Constitutional History, Theory and Practice

A collection of scholarly essays marking the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Sri Lankan Republic in 1972.

Edited by Asanga Welikala

Individual chapters and contributions can be downloaded below.

Frontispiece
Sketch – Sunela Jayewardene
List of Contributors
Foreword – Sagarica Delgoda
Preface – Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu
Editor’s Introduction – Asanga Welikala

Part I – Constitutional History

Chapter 01
Reflections on the Making and Content of the 1972 Constitution: An Insider’s Perspective –Nihal Jayawickrama

Chapter 02
The 1972 Republican Constitution of Sri Lanka in the Postcolonial Constitutional Evolution of Sri Lanka
-Radhika Coomaraswamy

Chapter 03
The Failure of Jennings’ Constitutional Experiment in Ceylon: How ‘Procedural Entrenchment’ led to Constitutional Revolution
– Asanga Welikala

Chapter 04
Buddhism and the Constitution: The Historiography and Postcolonial Politics of Section 6
– Benjamin Schonthal

Chapter 05
Conflicted Solidarities? Muslims and the Constitution-making Process of 1970-72
– Farzana Haniffa

Chapter 06
Sinhalaness and its Reproduction, 1232-1818
– Michael Roberts

Part II – Constitutional Theory

Chapter 07
Sovereignty and the 1972 Constitution
– Hallie Ludsin

Chapter 08
The Left and the 1972 Constitution: Marxism and State Power
– Kumar David

Chapter 09
A Game of Mirrors: Constitutionalism and Exceptionalism in a Context of Nationalist Hegemony
– David Rampton

Chapter 10
Republican Constitutionalism and Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalism in Sri Lanka: Towards an Ontological Account of the Sri Lankan State
– Roshan de Silva Wijeyeratne

Chapter 11
Beyond the Unitary Conception of the United Kingdom Constitution
– Neil Walker

Chapter 12
Parliamentary Sovereignty and Written Constitutions in Comparative Perspective
– Cheryl Saunders and Anna Dziedzic

Chapter 13
Sub-State Nations and the Constitutional State: Embedding Normative Principles within a Plurinational Constitution
– Stephen Tierney

Chapter 14
Revolutions and Institutions: Political Violence and Sri Lanka’s 1972 Constitution
– David C. Williams

Chapter 15
On the Republic at Forty, Culture at One-Forty
– Qadri Ismail

Chapter 16
Whose Nation? Power, Agency, Gender and Tamil Nationalism
– Ambika Satkunanathan

Part III – Constitutional Practice

Chapter 17
Ethnicity, Nationhood and Pluralism
– Yash Ghai

Chapter 18
Democracy, Nationalism and the Nation-State
– L.C. Arulpragasam

Chapter 19
Fundamental Rights and the 1972 Constitution
– Jayampathy Wickramaratne

Chapter 20
Representation in Politics: Women and Gender in the Sri Lankan Republic
–Maithree Wickramasinghe and Chulani Kodikara

Chapter 21
Gender Equality in Constitutional Design: An Overview for Sri Lankan Drafters
– Susan H. Williams

Chapter 22
Constitution-making and Nation-building in Divided Societies
– Nicholas Haysom

Part IV – Interviews and Recollections

Chapter 23
The Constitutional Form of the First Republic: The Sinhala-Buddhist Perspective:
An Interview with Udaya Gammanpila

Chapter 24
The Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (Federal Party) and the Post-Independence Politics of Ethnic Pluralism: Tamil Nationalism Before and After the Republic:
An Interview with R. Sampanthan

Chapter 25
From Federalism to Separatism: The Impact of the 1970-72 Constitution-making Exercise on Tamil Nationalism’s Ideological Transformation:
An Interview with D. Sithadthan

Chapter 26
Tamils of Recent Indian Origin and the Constitution-making Process of 1970-72:
An Interview with P.P. Devaraj

Chapter 27
Insurrection amidst Constitutional Revolution: The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the 1970-72 Constitution-making Process:
An Interview with Lionel Bopage