CARE land and conflict seminar 18 th March 2013 Sunil Bastian

Preliminary remarks - conflict Conflicts are an inherent characteristic of society Conflict-violence and structural reasons Analysing structures – social relations/institutions/hegemonic ideology Ruling elite plays the dominant role in producing and reproducing these structures They are maintained in struggle and conflict Power and politics central to the analysis Peaceful transformation of structures for the benefit of the marginalised What do you mean by ‘peaceful’?

Preliminary remarks - land Land is not only a resource Controlling land/territory is a key aspect of state formation Land is a source of identity Land plays a role in human security

Sri Lankan conflict Structure of the state Identity of the state Public policies Relations between identity groups in society All these three levels interact Escalation into an armed conflict Post-war and not post-conflict Sri Lanka At present need to focus on structural reasons

A. State formation and land policy State formation and control of land by a centralised state Beginnings of the modern state Colebrook-Cameron reforms, incorporation of the Kandyan kingdom Spatial reorganisation – administrative and political (notion of territorial electorates) The discourse of a unitary state Links with Sinhala Buddhist nationalism

National question, centralised state and land policy Demand for federalism, challenge to the unitary state Land settlement policies, change in demographic patterns in the East and shift in political power Bandaranaike/Chelvanayagam Pact Senanayake/Chelvanayagam Pact Land and conflicts in this context 13th amendment/devolution of power over state land Post-war situation/military control in the North/land issues

B. Capitalism and land policy Capital and land policies – first wave of globalisation Waste Land Ordinance Formalising modern private property concept in the whole island Balance comes under the state Notion of ‘encroachment’ Colonial capitalism/export agriculture/land policy Diversity in export agriculture/demand for land 1975 land reform Privatisation from 1992 Land on lease

Capital, neoliberalism – second wave of globalisation From 1977 land policy began to take into account demands of capital Recent emphasis on developing land markets Consolidating private property rights on LDO land Land titling/discourse of individual property rights Post-war demand for land from capital Demand for urban land (exploitation by dispossession) What will happen to land in the North/East

C. ‘Protecting’ a peasantry in the context of capitalism and land policy 1927 Land Commission/Land Development Ordinance D.S. Senanayake/Sinhala nationalism Land settlement programmes Regularising ‘encroachments’/village expansion 1958 Paddy Lands Act 1972 Land Reforms? Class formation in rural areas Markets and small holder peasantry