IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/soueco/v2y2001i1p105-121.html

Rethinking Social Development: Towards an Equitable Future for Sri Lankaâ€

Author

Listed:
  • Laksiri Jayasuriya

    (School of Social Work and Social Policy, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia)

Abstract

This article reviews the development experience of Sri Lanka as a third world wel fare state. Sri Lanka stands out as a unique example since it put strong emphasis on the social sector even during the early phases of its development path. The social democratic state evolved in such a way that it was committed to the pursuit of greater equity. Although the country ranked low in terms of per capita GNP, it stood out on a range of social indicators such as the Human Development Index (HDI). Thus, Sri Lanka was able to achieve greater equity in the allocation of re sources and an improved living standard, which helped it to enhance the level of human development. However, the post-1977 era saw the new government depart from its earlier social policies by promoting neo-liberal economic policies. But the Centre-Left coalition which came to power in 1994 is committed to structural adjustment with a human face, with its thrust on distributive justice and social equality. This article suggests that the way forward is to integrate minority politics and welfare politics and to do away with the electoral populism of the past.

Suggested Citation

  • Laksiri Jayasuriya, 2001. "Rethinking Social Development: Towards an Equitable Future for Sri Lankaâ€," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 2(1), pages 105-121, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:soueco:v:2:y:2001:i:1:p:105-121
    DOI: 10.1177/139156140100200106
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/139156140100200106
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/139156140100200106?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Dunham & Sisira Jayasuriya, 2000. "Equity, Growth and Insurrection: Liberalization and the Welfare Debate in Contemporary Sri Lanka," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 97-110.
    2. S.R. Osmani, 1994. "Is There a Conflict Between Growth and Welfarism? The Significance of the Sri Lanka Debate," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 25(2), pages 387-421, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yiping Huang & Jian Chang & Prema-Chandra Athukorala & Sisira Jayasuriya, 2013. "Economic Policy Shifts in Sri Lanka: The Post-Conflict Development Challenge," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 12(2), pages 1-28, Summer.
    2. Prema-chandra Athukorala, 2023. "The Sri Lankan economy: Hope, despair and prospects," Departmental Working Papers 2023-10, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    3. Siddiqur Osmani, 2009. "Explaining Growth in South Asia," Chapters, in: Gary McMahon & Hadi Salehi Esfahani & Lyn Squire (ed.), Diversity in Economic Growth, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. repec:qeh:qehwps:qehwps99 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Ramani Gunatilaka & Duangkamon Chotikapanich, 2009. "Accounting For Sri Lanka'S Expenditure Inequality 1980–2002: Regression‐Based Decomposition Approaches," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(4), pages 882-906, December.
    6. Prema-chandra Athukorala, 2021. "Asian economic development: A primer," Departmental Working Papers 2021-07, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    7. Thankom Arun & Vani K. Borooah, 2011. "The Gender impact in Earnings Inequality: Evidence from Sri Lanka," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH), Kavala Campus, Greece, vol. 4(2), pages 71-80, August.
    8. Kanchana N Ruwanpura, 2023. "Frayed social safety: Social networks, stigma, and COVID-19 – The case of Sri Lankan garment workers," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 41(7), pages 1317-1332, November.
    9. Prathi Seneviratne, 2017. "Explaining Changes in Sri Lanka’s Wage Distribution, 1992-2014: A Quantile Regression Analysis," Working Papers 2017-01, Carleton College, Department of Economics.
    10. Sirimal Abeyratne, 2004. "Economic Roots of Political Conflict: The Case of Sri Lanka," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(8), pages 1295-1314, August.
    11. Ajwad, Mohamed Ihsan & Kurukulasuriya, Pradeep, 2002. "Ethnic and gender wagedisparities in Sri Lanka," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2859, The World Bank.
    12. Ramani Gunatilaka & Duangkamon Chotikapanich & Brett Inder, 2006. "Impact of Structural Change in Education, Industry and Infrastructure on Income Distribution in Sri Lanka," Monash Econometrics and Business Statistics Working Papers 21/06, Monash University, Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics.
    13. Thankom Arun & Vani Borooah & Shoba Arun, 2013. "Earnings inequality in sri lanka," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 47(1), pages 355-371, January-J.
    14. Ramani Gunatilaka & Duangkamon Chotikapanich, 2006. "Inequality Trends and Determinants in Sri Lanka 1980-2002: A Shapley Approach to Decomposition," Monash Econometrics and Business Statistics Working Papers 6/06, Monash University, Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics.
    15. S. R. Osmani, 2018. "Socio-economic development in South Asia: The past 50 years," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-105, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Chandranath Amarasekara & Bernard Njindan Iyke & Paresh Kumar Narayan, 2022. "The role of R&D and economic policy uncertainty in Sri Lanka’s economic growth," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-19, December.
    17. S.R. Osmani, 2018. "Socio-economic development in South Asia: The past 50 years," WIDER Working Paper Series 105, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:soueco:v:2:y:2001:i:1:p:105-121. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ips.lk/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.