Ethnocracy, Geopolitics, and Economic Crisis in Sri Lanka

While economic crisis amidst massive protests forced Sri Lanka to declare bankruptcy in July 2022, most fail to link this outcome with the ethnocracy that got consolidated over seven decades. The ethnocratic politics had ramifications for geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific, and the attendant economic bankruptcy only complicates the country’s preference to pursue a multi-aligned foreign policy. The upshot is that Sri Lanka’s ethnocracy led to a bloody separatist conflict and contributed to economic chaos while further complicating the discourse surrounding internal and external borders—especially given India’s regional preferences and China’s expanding influence in South Asia and beyond.