Law and Society Trust published a new commentary, ‘Biting the Bullet – Demilitarising Economic Relations in Post-War Sri Lanka’.

The commentary focuses on the post-war legacy of links between private companies or private capital, both investment and philanthropic, and the military in Sri Lanka. In considering these relatively under-explored dimensions of militarisation, it underlines that whilst the military has a role to play in contexts like disaster response or other emergencies, the continuing consequences of the military’s post-war economic footprint and role in organising economic relations, especially in the North and East, merit greater attention and monitoring.

The commentary also examines the role of private businesses and their engagements with the military, both in the recent past and continuing, and stresses the importance of subjecting them to closer assessment. This Commentary is an invitation to further research and complements existing documentation and literature pertaining to military occupation of land and political economic analysis of militarisation in Sri Lanka in general.

For the PDF version of the commentary click here