Kenneth D Bush
Biographic Data
| ID | 4211183 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kenneth D Bush |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kenneth D |
| FAMILY NAME | Bush |
| SIGNATURE | BUSH K D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Saint Paul University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 15 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Critical Juncture III
In the history of Sri Lanka, the only threat to state authority 1 which exceeded the JVP insurrection of 1971 is the JVP resurgence of 1987–90. Although the conflict in the North and the East involves victims and combatants from all ethnic communities, it has never fundamentally threatened the state to the extent of the two JVP episodes.
Fitting the Pieces Together
Each of the preceding chapters above has analysed a critical juncture in the evolution of the conflict in Sri Lanka. The following summarizes the key elements in the cases studied in this chapter and categorizes each episode according to the relative impact of inter-group (Model I) and intra-group (Model II) dynamics: A conflict which is essentially inter-group with minimal intra-group influence. A conflict in which inter-group factors are domina…
Critical Juncture IV
All studies of contemporary Sri Lankan politics identify the ‘anti-Tamil riots’ of 1983 as a critical marker in inter-group conflict. The episode was followed by an increase in the abuses and excesses that have come to characterize the conflict in both the inter-group and intra-group arenas, most evident in human rights violations by military and paramilitary forces. The episode was also followed by a rapid militarization of the conflict 1 and a …
Beyond Billiard Ball Analysis
The purpose of the current chapter is to sketch out briefly some of the thinking and issues surrounding the linkages between identity, security and violent conflict as reflected in the dominant literature on ethnic or nationalist conflict. Chapter 2 builds on this overview by setting it in the Sri Lankan context.
Critical Juncture VI
The episode analysed in this chapter differs from the others in this book, because it was still being played out as this book was being completed. While the selection of this episode allows for the testing of a two-level analysis on current events, the chapter may lack a more definitive sense of closure that is possible in historical cases. However, the contemporary character of the episode allows more latitude for probing inter- and intra-group …
Critical Juncture I
As noted in the Chapter 3, Sri Lanka’s transition from the status of colony to independent state was conspicuously untraumatic when compared with the decolonization experience of India. The transfer of political power to the ‘Model Colony of Ceylon’ was technically challenging, but free of the political turmoil or social catharsis evident in other cases of decolonization (de Silva 1982). Academic accounts of the transition illustrate the elite ch…
An Overview of Sri Lanka
In 1948, when Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) 1 gained political independence from Britain, the knowledgeable observer would have felt confident in predicting that the country would quickly adjust to its new sovereign and independent status. Unlike India, Sri Lanka attained independence rather untraumatically. Practically speaking, Sri Lanka’s independence followed on the coat-tails of the Indian struggle. The British left amicably and were perceived as …
Learning to Read between the Lines
This book uses the term ‘ethnicity’ broadly to refer to the ‘subjective, symbolic, or emblematic use by a group of people of any aspect of culture in order to create internal cohesion and differentiate themselves from other groups’ (Brass 1991: 19). This understanding of ethnicity recognizes that the internal and external functions of group identity are cohesion and differentiation. Central to this sense of identity is a shared belief in common d…
Critical Juncture V
On 29 July 1987, India and Sri Lanka signed an agreement which had as its stated purpose the establishment of ‘peace and normalcy in Sri Lanka’ — that is, to end the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict. The Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement was wholly unanticipated until just before it was signed in Colombo1 It formalized the indo-centric reality of South Asian politics, most conspicuously by providing for the introduction of an IPKF on to the island ‘to guarantee a…
Critical Juncture II
The year 1956 is pivotal in the ethnic politics of Sri Lanka. It is the year in which ethnic chauvinism was first employed by a political party to contest and win a general election and to form a national government. In the past, ethnic sentiments had been stirred and harnessed by politicians, but by and large, ethnic chauvinism was either an unstated element in elections or a relatively insignificant sideshow.’ This changed in 1956 with the camp…
The Intra-Group Dimensions of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka
Through an examination of the critical junctures in post-colonial Sri Lanka, Kenneth D. Bush refines and advances our understanding of the dynamics underpinning violent and non-violent 'ethnic' confli
Identity-Based Conflict
In the late twentieth century, and particularly in the nascent post-Cold War era, places have become metaphors for violent "communal'1 or "identity based" conflict. As Donald Horowitz has observed, such conflicts have "fought and bled and burned [their] way into public and scholarly con sciousness." Yet, at the same time, we find ourselves ill equipped intellec tually and institutionally to face the complex challenges posed by identity based viol…
Beyond Bungee Cord Humanitarianism
This article presents ten caveats that might serve as points of reference in our efforts to formulate efficient and effective peacebuilding and reconstruction (PBR) initiatives. It is motivated by a concern that the contributions of Canada and the international community to PBR may be limited by narrow and shortsighted understandings of the nature of the PBR challenge. It calls for a much more critical and self-conscious approach which draws on a…
From Our Readers
Reading Between the Lines
The Intra-Group Dimensions of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka
Through an examination of the critical junctures in post-colonial Sri Lanka, Kenneth D. Bush refines and advances our understanding of the dynamics underpinning violent and non-violent 'ethnic' confli
Identity-Based Conflict
In the late twentieth century, and particularly in the nascent post-Cold War era, places have become metaphors for violent "communal'1 or "identity based" conflict. As Donald Horowitz has observed, such conflicts have "fought and bled and burned [their] way into public and scholarly con sciousness." Yet, at the same time, we find ourselves ill equipped intellec tually and institutionally to face the complex challenges posed by identity based viol…
Beyond Bungee Cord Humanitarianism
This article presents ten caveats that might serve as points of reference in our efforts to formulate efficient and effective peacebuilding and reconstruction (PBR) initiatives. It is motivated by a concern that the contributions of Canada and the international community to PBR may be limited by narrow and shortsighted understandings of the nature of the PBR challenge. It calls for a much more critical and self-conscious approach which draws on a…
Reading Between the Lines
From Our Readers
Beyond Bungee Cord Humanitarianism
This article presents ten caveats that might serve as points of reference in our efforts to formulate efficient and effective peacebuilding and reconstruction (PBR) initiatives. It is motivated by a concern that the contributions of Canada and the international community to PBR may be limited by narrow and shortsighted understandings of the nature of the PBR challenge. It calls for a much more critical and self-conscious approach which draws on a…
Identity-Based Conflict
In the late twentieth century, and particularly in the nascent post-Cold War era, places have become metaphors for violent "communal'1 or "identity based" conflict. As Donald Horowitz has observed, such conflicts have "fought and bled and burned [their] way into public and scholarly con sciousness." Yet, at the same time, we find ourselves ill equipped intellec tually and institutionally to face the complex challenges posed by identity based viol…
Critical Juncture III
In the history of Sri Lanka, the only threat to state authority 1 which exceeded the JVP insurrection of 1971 is the JVP resurgence of 1987–90. Although the conflict in the North and the East involves victims and combatants from all ethnic communities, it has never fundamentally threatened the state to the extent of the two JVP episodes.
Fitting the Pieces Together
Each of the preceding chapters above has analysed a critical juncture in the evolution of the conflict in Sri Lanka. The following summarizes the key elements in the cases studied in this chapter and categorizes each episode according to the relative impact of inter-group (Model I) and intra-group (Model II) dynamics: A conflict which is essentially inter-group with minimal intra-group influence. A conflict in which inter-group factors are domina…
Critical Juncture IV
All studies of contemporary Sri Lankan politics identify the ‘anti-Tamil riots’ of 1983 as a critical marker in inter-group conflict. The episode was followed by an increase in the abuses and excesses that have come to characterize the conflict in both the inter-group and intra-group arenas, most evident in human rights violations by military and paramilitary forces. The episode was also followed by a rapid militarization of the conflict 1 and a …
Beyond Billiard Ball Analysis
The purpose of the current chapter is to sketch out briefly some of the thinking and issues surrounding the linkages between identity, security and violent conflict as reflected in the dominant literature on ethnic or nationalist conflict. Chapter 2 builds on this overview by setting it in the Sri Lankan context.
Critical Juncture VI
The episode analysed in this chapter differs from the others in this book, because it was still being played out as this book was being completed. While the selection of this episode allows for the testing of a two-level analysis on current events, the chapter may lack a more definitive sense of closure that is possible in historical cases. However, the contemporary character of the episode allows more latitude for probing inter- and intra-group …
Critical Juncture I
As noted in the Chapter 3, Sri Lanka’s transition from the status of colony to independent state was conspicuously untraumatic when compared with the decolonization experience of India. The transfer of political power to the ‘Model Colony of Ceylon’ was technically challenging, but free of the political turmoil or social catharsis evident in other cases of decolonization (de Silva 1982). Academic accounts of the transition illustrate the elite ch…
An Overview of Sri Lanka
In 1948, when Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) 1 gained political independence from Britain, the knowledgeable observer would have felt confident in predicting that the country would quickly adjust to its new sovereign and independent status. Unlike India, Sri Lanka attained independence rather untraumatically. Practically speaking, Sri Lanka’s independence followed on the coat-tails of the Indian struggle. The British left amicably and were perceived as …
Learning to Read between the Lines
This book uses the term ‘ethnicity’ broadly to refer to the ‘subjective, symbolic, or emblematic use by a group of people of any aspect of culture in order to create internal cohesion and differentiate themselves from other groups’ (Brass 1991: 19). This understanding of ethnicity recognizes that the internal and external functions of group identity are cohesion and differentiation. Central to this sense of identity is a shared belief in common d…
Critical Juncture V
On 29 July 1987, India and Sri Lanka signed an agreement which had as its stated purpose the establishment of ‘peace and normalcy in Sri Lanka’ — that is, to end the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict. The Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement was wholly unanticipated until just before it was signed in Colombo1 It formalized the indo-centric reality of South Asian politics, most conspicuously by providing for the introduction of an IPKF on to the island ‘to guarantee a…
Critical Juncture II
The year 1956 is pivotal in the ethnic politics of Sri Lanka. It is the year in which ethnic chauvinism was first employed by a political party to contest and win a general election and to form a national government. In the past, ethnic sentiments had been stirred and harnessed by politicians, but by and large, ethnic chauvinism was either an unstated element in elections or a relatively insignificant sideshow.’ This changed in 1956 with the camp…
The Intra-Group Dimensions of Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka
Through an examination of the critical junctures in post-colonial Sri Lanka, Kenneth D. Bush refines and advances our understanding of the dynamics underpinning violent and non-violent 'ethnic' confli
Political science (12 works) · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Politics (8 works) · Geography (7 works) · History (6 works) · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies (6 works) · Sri lanka (6 works) · Philosophy (5 works)