The Scars of the Eelam War: Eroded Trust in North-Eastern Sri Lanka

This study explores the legacies of the protracted 1983–2009 Sri Lankan civil conflict using original household survey data. By differentiating individual- and household-level war exposure, voluntary and involuntary military service experience, and loss of family members of soldiers and civilians, we evaluated the influence of a wide array of war-time experiences on the trust level of people in war-torn regions. We found that civil conflict undermined political trust, and heightened inter as well as intra-ethnic divisions among the Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka. Thus, the Sri Lankan government needs to take action not only to restore political trust but also to promote reconciliation between the Sinhala and Tamil communities as well as within the Tamil community in war-torn regions.