Jonas Lindberg

Corruption and conflict: connections and consequences in war-torn Sri Lanka

In the transition from war to peace, one key challenge is to ensure that those who gained something from the war can be convinced to support the peace. At the same time, however, it is crucial to avoid reproducing corrupt practices and inequalities that fuelled the conflict. The problem of corruption during post-war peace-building has gained considerable attention recently, academically as well as in policy-making circles. This exploratory case study of Sri Lanka traces and problematises the complex linkages between corruption and conflict at the shift from war to peace, building on field research in Sri Lanka before and after the end of the war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009. The article illustrates how global resource flows and politics have enabled conflict-fuelling corruption in Sri Lanka, and how local experiences of corruption feed into the popular grievances which have both caused and kept the conflict going. The end of the war has not presented a break with the corruption-conflict links of the wartime—and these connections will have implications for reconstruction and reconciliation in the country.

Corruption in the aftermath of war: an introduction

‘Corruption in the aftermath of war’ brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars to enquire into the dynamics of corruption in post-conflict societies. This introduction discusses five themes, problematising and summarising key findings from the 10 articles included. First, we discuss the problems with the corruption concept, related to its moralising connotations and definitional vagueness, and propose viewing corruption as a collective action dilemma as a way of avoiding these moralising aspects. Second, we discuss post-conflict societies, and highlight the great varieties of ‘peace’ that that label can refer to. We suggest that the causes, dynamics and effects of corruption in post-conflict societies bear many similarities with those in other societies, but that the post-conflict situation often generates an intensification and entrenchment of corruption-related problems. Third, we analyse the dynamics between international interveners and domestic actors, and show the contradictions and tensions in international–domestic relations. Fourth, we argue that the inter-linkages between inequality, mistrust and corruption deserve consideration in the study of post-conflict societies, and that inequality in particular merits more attention. Finally, we discuss some methodological challenges encountered by the contributors in their studies of corruption in post-conflict societies.

Education, Development and the Imaginary Global Consensus: reframing educational planning dilemmas in the South

Abstract In the context of knowledge-intensive globalisation and severe poverty, policy makers in the South face various educational planning dilemmas. These are ultimately political, implying that there are no ways of avoiding tensions and trade-offs when attempting to handle them. Such dilemmas have been subject to debate in the research community and have been framed differently in different historical contexts. The contemporary development policy discourse, however, largely conceals the existence of dilemmas by suggesting that we have reached a global consensus regarding the role of education in development. This article illustrates that this consensus is imaginary and consequently aims to reframe educational planning dilemmas in the contemporary policy context. It is shown that the dilemmas have changed character and now largely revolve around how to navigate and negotiate in highly complex political landscapes. Future research should focus on such ongoing wars of position and expose the many tensions concealed by the hegemonic policy discourse.

Livelihoods or ecopreneurship? Agro‐economic experiments in Hambantota, Sri Lanka

Purpose - In the context of contemporary debates on ecopreneurship and sustainable livelihoods, this article seeks to compare two programmes to promote a certain type of agro-economic practice among rural farmers. By following the successes and failures of these programmes, the text interrogates how such initiatives are evaluated by the surrounding community of aid agencies and governmental bodies. Design/methodology/approach - Deploying the theoretical notion of “performativity”, as used within economic anthropology, the article posits that the above-mentioned programmes can be construed as economic experiments. More specifically, the text compares two concurrent initiatives: One ecopreneurial experiment instigated by a social entrepreneur, and one livelihoods-focussed experiment instigated by an aid agency. The case study is based upon material from a three-year ethnography of entrepreneurship-promoting programmes in Hambantota, Sri Lanka. Findings - While the ecopreneurial venture fails, the livelihoods-based initiative proves successful in demonstrating its economic validity. The case study indicates that, in the context of modes of evaluation focusing on day-to-day incomes of farmers, it may be difficult for ecopreneurs to make room for ecological experimentation. Originality/value - Having identified this “ecopreneurs dilemma”, the article prompts scholars and policy-makers to investigate it further, and potentially re-examine how the livelihoods agenda is implemented in practice.

The diversity and spatiality of rural livelihoods in southern Sri Lanka: Access, poverty, and local perceptions

As a consequence of the increasingly multi-local and diversified nature of rural livelihoods, the production of wealth and poverty in the Global South is gradually delinked from local and agrarian resources. In order to understand what affects successful participation in non-farm livelihood activities, it is important, but surprisingly often neglected to incorporate local perceptions of change and of what factors affect the accessibility of key livelihood assets. Based on a guided questionnaire and semi-structured interviews, the article provides both a detailed account of the diversity and spatiality of livelihoods in two villages in southern Sri Lanka and an analysis of the factors affecting differentiated access to non-farm livelihood activities. One key finding is that the categories ‘farm’ and ‘non-farm’ are too general for a grounded evaluation of poverty-reducing livelihood activities, which casts some doubt on more optimistic findings based on large-scale survey data. Poor households participate in both farm and non-farm activities, illustrating a deep segmentation of the non-farm sector. Lack of social assets (e.g. networks and connections) was identified as most crucial for access to lucrative non-farm segments, since it also affected access to other assets.

Studying “the Political” in International Aid to Education: Methodological Considerations

The point of departure of this article is an apparent antinomy. On the one hand, there is the powerful argument in political theory on the emergence and consolidation of a post-political condition. On the other hand, research in international and comparative education demonstrates how conflicts and power asymmetries continue to characterize education aid. Attempting to move beyond this antinomy we engage in a methodological discussion on how to study “the political” in education aid landscapes with strong post-political features. By reviewing the two sets of literature, and bringing them into conversation, we extract five methodological tenets: (i) taking “the political” seriously, (ii) looking beyond face value when scrutinizing policy arrangements, (iii) exploring everyday wars of position, (iv) focusing on subjects and situated practices, and (v) moving beyond scales by analyzing connections across territorial entities. The article primarily makes a methodological contribution but ultimately the findings can also be relevant to the world of policy making.

Corrupt Peace? Corruption and Ethnic Divides in Post-war Sri Lanka

It is widely recognized that corruption risks undermining state legitimacy, diminishing trust and reducing resources for reconstruction in the aftermath of war. This article aims to advance the understanding of corruption in post-war societies by examining how local experiences of corruption relate to ethnic and other divides in Sri Lanka, where a 26-year war was fought largely along ethnic lines. The article builds on 170 interviews carried out in 2009–2013, focusing on how ‘ordinary people’ perceive corruption and ethnic divides after the war. The article argues that ethnic grievances have less to do with local inter-ethnic relations than with relations between the state and minority groups. We find that state–citizen relations in the post-war period to a large extent have been shaped by practices and discourses of corruption. Although corrupt practices—or practices perceived to be corrupt—are prevalent in all parts of the country and affect all groups, they are often interpreted as instances of ethnic discrimination. However, it is not only ethnic identity that matters in relations between citizens and the (corrupt) state, but also socio-economic position, level of education, language skills, gender and social networks.

Land and grievances in post-conflict Sri Lanka: exploring the role of corruption complaints

There is a growing academic literature on both land and corruption in relation to post-conflict peace building. This paper aims to understand what role corruption complaints play in the nexus between land and grievances in post-conflict societies. Drawing on field material collected in Sri Lanka, the paper interrogates the role of corruption complaints in relation to a number of highly politicised and ethnicised post-conflict land issues, ranging from the return of idps and alleged new resettlement schemes to land grabbing for military, ‘development’ and/or commercial purposes. The comparatively high visibility of land use, and the fact that land-related corruption is likely to affect a specific set of people who lay claim to the land, makes it a particularly important area to address in research on corruption and post-conflict peace building.