Analysing the Sri Lankan civil war through the lens of conflict resolution theory

Abstract

This paper offers a detailed perspective of third-party intervention as a major toolkit in conflict resolution. It assesses the efficacy of third-party intervention under certain working conditions, also at the same time points out circumstances that hinders attempted conflict resolutions. Third party intervention was used as a toolkit in the attempted peace process in Sri Lanka, to help resolve the decades-old Sri Lankan ethnic conflict between the government and the Tamil separatist faction, LTTE. India was the first to attempt mediation through its peacekeeping forces, which counteracted under unforeseen circumstances and quickly lost the peacekeeping approach and turned into muscle-mediation. Norway too played a prominent role in the process, but it adopted an unbiased and non-coercive peace facilitation approach. Despite which, Norway came under a barrage of criticism for biased mediation policies. This research points out what two different types of mediation can achieve from a single conflict and what are the conditions required for third party mediation to achieve success, under a complex situation like the Sri Lankan case. The Sri Lankan peace process explores how mediation by force can backfire but at the same time exposes the powerlessness of non-coercive third-party mediation. This study holds potential to drive future researchers closer to exploring means to minimize the impacts of such limitations on future reconciliations.