Maintaining Democratic Space in the Public Sphere: A Strategy for Sri Lanka Civil Society

Abstract

Civil society in Sri Lanka has maintained a complex relationship with political society. Over the years, the nature and extent of civil society space has been determined by the policies and ideologies dominant in the political sphere. Accordingly, transitions of power have been accompanied by radical transformations of civil society space. During the past decade, ‘nationalist’ civil society organisations (CSOs) enjoyed considerable space under the Mahinda Rajapaksa government. Most recently, the January 2015 victory of President Maithripala Sirisena, in which a wide cross-section of civil society actors played a decisive role, has regenerated space for ‘liberal democratic’ CSOs. The new political dispensation under the Sirisena—United National Party (UNP) government, following the August 2015 general election, has also proven conducive to the activity of liberal democratic CSOs. The characteristic shifts in civil society space in light of political transitions point to three factors that determine the space for CSO activity on liberal and democratic issues: 1. Patronage of powerful actors within government and political society. 2. Public support, which doubles as a potential voter base for political actors. 3. International pressure on the government.

The foregoing analysis reveals that CSOs working on liberal and democratic issues such as good governance, the rule of law, equitable development, peace and reconciliation and the promotion and protection of human rights rely on at least three factors to secure operational space: patronage, people and pressure. For a vast number of such CSOs, the patronage of ideologically aligned political actors is the main determinant of that space. When ideologically aligned political actors come to power, the space for these CSOs broadens; when such actors lose power and are replaced by political actors with nationalist leanings, these CSOs are suppressed and marginalised. Thus liberal democratic CSOs have become somewhat dependant on political patronage for their survival. In this context, these CSOs have demonstrated willingness to be less critical of their political patrons in order to maintain the space.