Michael Roberts
Way back in the 1970s-1990s when I visited Sri Lanka in pursuit of my research interests two of the personnel whom I interacted with regularly were Sunil Bastian and Kumari Jayawardena –both with radical leanings of a Leftist character.
SUNIL has produced a new book in 2025 and as a Preface to details on that work TPS aka THUPPAHI eagerly introduces its readers (old and new) to information on his range of work over the years.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Past Work
Books
(2025) State Formation and Conflicts in Sri Lanka. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
(2018) Politics of foreign aid in Sri Lanka: Sustaining a state in conflict. Colombo: International Centre for Ethnic Studies.
http://ices.lk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/ICES-Mr.-Sunil-Sustaining-a-state-in-conflict-Book-WEB.pdf
(2007) Politics of foreign aid in Sri Lanka: Promoting markets and supporting peace. Colombo: International Centre for Ethnic Studies.
Edited Volumes
(2003) Co-editor, Can Democracy be Designed? London: Zed Books
(1997) Co-editor, Assessing Participation: A Debate from South Asia, ITDG/Konark Publishers, New Delhi.
(1994) Editor, Devolution and Development, Konark Publishers, New Delhi.
Monographs/Selected consultancy reports
(2013) Post-colonial Sri Lankan State, the Rural Sinhalese Society and the ethno-political conflict, Social Scientist’s Association, Colombo
(2013) Land, Class & Ethnicity, LST Review, Vol.23, Issue 303, January 2013
(2013) Post-war political economy, ICES, Research Paper No.7, May 2013
(2009) Politics of Land Reforms, Published by PANOS, South Asia
(2000) Democratic Institutions and Politics in Contexts of Inequality, Poverty and Conflict. With Robin Luckham, Anne Marie Goetz and Mary Kaldor. IDS Working Paper 104, January 2000.
(1999) The Failure of State Formation, Identity Conflict and Civil Society Responses – The Case of Sri Lanka, Working Paper 2, Centre for Conflict Resolution, Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, September.
(1999) Poverty Alleviation through Smallholder Agriculture – Fighting a Losing Battle? Intercooperation, February
(1986) Towards the identification of target groups for SIDA support in Sri Lanka, SIDA, Colombo.
(1986) Ethnic Conflict of Sri Lanka and the Role of Non‑Government Organisations, Swiss NGO Coalition, November
(1985) Towards a participatory approach in plantation welfare, Paper presented to a seminar on “Welfare and Development in the Plantation Sector”, Matara IRDP seminar, April.
(1985) Plantation labour in a changing environment, a study of the impact of four macro processes in low and mid country estates, SIDA, Colombo, January
(1985) Tea estate welfare programme, People’s responses and people’s participation, SIDA, Colombo, January.
(1981) The Tea Industry since Nationalisation, Quest 67, Colombo: Centre for Society & Religion
Journal articles/book chapters
(2020) Malin Akebo, Sunil Bastian. Beyond Liberal Peace in Sri Lanka: Victory, Politics, and State Formation. Journal of Peacebuilding & Development, 1-15
(2013) Land, Class and Ethnicity, LST Review, Vol.23, Issue 303, January 2013
(2013) The Political Economy of Post-war Sri Lanka, Research Paper No. 7, May 2013, Colombo, International centre for Ethnic Studies
(2011) Politics of market reforms and UNF-led negotiations, in ‘Conflict and Peacebuilding in Sri Lanka, Caught in a peace trap?’ (eds.) Jonathan Goodhand, Jonathan Spencer and Benedikt Korf, London: Routledge.
(2011) Reflecting on Class in Post-War Sri Lanka, Dissenting Dialogue, Issue No.2, February.
(2010) Politics and Power in a Market Economy, in Camilla Orjuela (ed.) Power and politics in the shadow of Sri Lanka’s armed conflict, Sida Studies No.25, Sida.
(2009) From research to policy: The case of tsunami rehabilitation in Sri Lanka, in Malathi de Alwis and Eva-Lotta Hedman (eds.) Tsunami in a Time of War: Aid Activism & Reconstruction in Sri Lanka and Aceh, Colombo: International Centre for Ethnic Studies.
(2009) Politics of social exclusion, state reform and security in Sri Lanka, IDS Bulletin, Vol.40 No.2, March
(2009) Sri Lanka in the new millennium, in Tan Tai Yong (ed.) Socio-Political and Economic Challenges in South Asia, New Delhi: Sage.
(2006) How Development Undermined Peace, in Kumar Rupesinghe (ed), Negotiating Peace in Sri Lanka, Efforts, Failures & Lessons, Volume 2, Foundation for Co-existence, Colombo.
(2005) Electoral Systems and Political Outcomes, Law and Society Review, Vol.15, Issue 210, April.
(2003) Foreign Aid, Globalisation and Conflict in Sri Lanka, in ed. Markus Mayer, Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake, Yuvi Thangarajah, Building Local Capacities for Peace, New Delhi, Macmillan.
(2003) The Politics of Electoral Reform – Proportional Representation of Sri Lanka, in ed. Sunil Bastian and Robin Luckham, Can Democracy be Designed? Zed Books.
(2000) General Elections – An Interpretation, Pravada, Vol.6 No. 9 & 10
(1999) State Centric Development and Majority Nationalism, A contribution on the occasion of twenty years of Movement for Inter-racial Justice and Equality, December.
(1997) Development NGOs and Ethnic Conflict, some conceptual challenges, Nethra, Vol.1, No.3, April-June, ICES.
(1997) The “New” Consensus in Development Assistance, Good Governance and Civil Society Politics, in ed. M. Somasundaram, The Third Wave, Governance and Public Administration in Sri Lanka, ICES/Konark Publishers, New Delhi.
(1997) Living between participation and self determination, experience of the Plantation sector, in “Assessing Participation: A Debate from South Asia”, ed. Sunil Bastian and Nicola Bastian, ITDG/Konark Publishers, New Delhi.
(1995) Control of State Land, The Devolution Debate, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, September
(1994) Sri Lanka, Ethnic Conflict and the Experiment in Devolution, in Journal of Behavioural and Social Sciences, Vol. 1, No.3.
(1994) Sri Lanka: Devolution, Problems of Implementation, Law and Society Trust, Fortnightly Review, Vol. IV, Issue No.72, 16th February.
(1994) Liberalised policies and Regional Autonomy, in “Devolution and Development” ed. Sunil Bastian , Konark Publishers, New Delhi, 1994
(1993) The UNP and Electoral Politics, The Thatched Patio, Vol.6, No.5, September/October, ICES
(1993) Ethnic Conflict and the Provincial council System of Sri Lanka, in Problems of Democracy, Constitutionalism and Political Violence, Ed. Ulrich Everding, Goethe-Institute, Colombo, September.
(1990) Indian Tamils, Emerging issues , Lanka, Uppsala, Sweden, December.
(1990) Political Economy of Ethnic Violence in Sri Lanka: The July 1983 Riots, in “Mirrors of Violence, Communities Riots and Survivors in South Asia”, ed. Veena Das, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
(1989) Devolution, A conflict management approach, Colombo: Marga.
(1989) Two Elections, A study of Sri Lanka’s Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, Thatched Patio, April.
(1989) Janasaviya, A study of the Sri Lanka’s poverty alleviation programme, Lanka Guardian,Vol.12, Nos 4 –8.
(1987) Plantation labour in a changing context in Facets of Ethnicity , Social Scientists Association of Sri Lanka.
(1986) International linkages and biochemical technology, in Charles Abeysekera (ed), Capital and peasant production, Colombo: Social Scientists Association.
(1984) Ethnic Conflict and University Admission, in Ethnicity and Social Change in Sri Lanka, Colombo: Social Scientists Association
(1984) Politics of Education in Sri Lanka (Published in German), ed. Florian Steinberg, Albatross Publisher
(1983) Foreign Investment in Sri Lanka, Economics and Politics, Logos, Colombo: Centre for Society & Religion, December
(1982) Injustice in education and the School Model Logos, Colombo: Centre for Society & Religion, June
(1982) Trends in Education and the White Paper, Logos, Colombo: Centre for Society & Religion, March
(1981) Present trends in the Sri Lankan Economy, An overview, Logos, Colombo: Centre for Society & Religion, June
(1977) School system and ‘racial’ prejudice, Logos, Colombo: Centre for Society & Religion, December
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