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Sri Lanka's unitary state and consequently much of its pluralist contestations are products of a precise colonial legacy, particularly the organization and reproduction of the constitutional principle of European/British unitary state in the island. Only after decades of violent ethnic conflicts between the minority Tamils and the majoritarian Sinhalese population did the Sinhalese ruling elite realize...
Following a critique of homogenous time, one that is so central to Benedict Anderson's reading of social history, the paper builds on the notion of heterogeneous time, with particular reference to governmentality, in the narrativization of the nation. The examples of B.R. Ambedkar and the fictional character of Satinath Bhaduri's Dhorai are then brought in to show the continuing tension between the...
Following postnational signs is one of way of moving ‘beyond nationalism’, and this requires a critique of the moral and ethical foundations of the modern political community. However, moving ‘beyond nationalism’ is by itself not necessarily superior to operating within national boundaries. The important issue is how we can improve the human condition by following postnational signs or moving beyond...
Violence, both of the state and the non-state, is central to the construction of the national state in South Asia. Both Sadat Hasan Manto and Fakir Alamgir, albeit at different historical conjunctures and through different medium, have critically exposed the horrifying outcome of what is commonly regarded as the birth of the nation. A post-nationalist critique of violence, including feminist perspectives,...
One aim of transdisciplinary research is to get natural and social scientists to collaborate, so as to achieve an integrated view of a subject that goes beyond the viewpoints offered by any particular discipline. The question of how transdisciplinary approaches can be practised remains a challenge, however, if the quantitative and the qualitative sciences are both to be included. To explore this question,...
In 1962, a futures studies group was launched in France on behalf of the Commissariat au Plan, reporting directly to the French Prime Minister. The group aimed at ‘studying, on the basis of future-shaping elements, what should be known right now about 1985 France’. This paper revisits that important and original futures studies project, which encapsulated efficiently the dominant values and beliefs...
The increasing complexity of our global society means that sustainable development cannot be addressed from a single perspective or scientific discipline. By using the concept of transitions, we examine current and future tensions between welfare, well-being and the environment, and focus on four major issues that are of global importance: two of our key natural resources, water and biodiversity;...
A novel paradigm for risk analysis is proposed and illustrated. The rationale is to engage with five self-evident observations about the nature of risk that have as yet been insufficiently absorbed within current risk paradigms. The five observations are: (1) that people's knowledge is what determines the way they perceive, define and assess risk issues; (2) that risk issues are a combination of physical...
This paper evaluates critically the meta-narrative that capitalism is becoming more powerful, expansive, hegemonic and totalising as it stretches its tentacles ever wider across the globe and penetrates deeper into each and every corner of daily life. Reviewing the ways in which an emerging corpus of post-structuralist thought has deconstructed this powerful discourse that closes off the future of...
As the complexity of social and political interaction becomes increasingly over-whelming it is only natural that the pragmatic, technocratic, and expert-driven character of contemporary policy-making is even further consolidated. Though making use of existing knowledge this approach may lead to a deprivation of the democratic debate as the time horizons are shortened and the number of significantly...
A regional copper scenario model has been developed from the perspective of the generic Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change framework for greenhouse gas emissions scenarios for the four world regions: OECD90, ASIA, REF, and ALM. A set of three scenarios: Tech World, Green World, and Trend World, each representing the significant driving forces influencing population and economic growth, technological...
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