The Walsh School of Foreign Service’s Asian Studies department hosted an interdisciplinary panel to discuss the ongoing political and economic crisis in Sri Lanka.

The Oct. 5 panel, entitled “The Crisis in Sri Lanka: Perspectives from Economics, Politics and Anthropology,” was formed in response to the current political and economic situation in the island nation of Sri Lanka. The panel aimed to address questions regarding Sri Lanka’s transition to a nation in turmoil. Panelists also discussed proactive responses to the crisis, outlining specific opportunities to assist Sri Lanka.

The event panel consisted of Shanta Devarajan, a Georgetown University professor in international development, Neil DeVotta, a professor of politics and international affairs at Wake Forest University, and Santa Clara University anthropology professor Mythri Jegathesan. The discussion was moderated by Cecilia Van Hollen, a professor of the Asian Studies department. 

The event comes on the heels of the Sri Lankan president’s resignation in July 2022 when he fled the country in response to months of protests against the government’s mismanagement of the economy. Though the Sri Lankan parliament has since appointed a new president, economic unrest continues as 86% of families are currently either skipping meals, eating less or buying worse food, according to the World Food Programme. 

As of Oct. 4, Amnesty International reports the nation’s bankruptcy and high rates of inflation are contributing to severe shortages in food, fuel and access to healthcare services. 

Given Sri Lanka’s relative stability in the past, the country’s drastic economic downturn was a surprise to many, according to Devarajan.

“Sri Lanka represents a bit of a puzzle, because on the one hand, it’s a remarkably successful economy with relatively rapid growth, enviable human development indicators and then an uninterrupted democracy,” Devarajan told The Hoya. “And on the other hand, it’s going through the worst economic crisis in its history, with GDP falling by over 8%. Inflation is at 70%. And a people’s movement threw out the democratically elected president.”

According to Devarajan, economists that closely followed Sri Lanka’s gradual debt accumulation have warned of an impending crisis for over a year, though the government consistently ignored warnings. 

“I would say since the summer of 2021, I’ve been giving talks and appearing on various seminars and webinars because we saw this debt crisis coming, and we were trying to get the government to actually embark on a debt restructuring IMF program,” Devarajan said. “But the government wasn’t listening, to be honest.”

Jegathesan said Sri Lanka’s national debt crisis has had a significant impact on the lives of Sri Lankans, especially the nation’s marginalized groups.

“The anthropological perspective provides a necessary centering on what people in Sri Lanka are experiencing on a day to day basis,” Jegathesan wrote to The Hoya. “The perspective accounts for how macro-level policies and infrastructures of fiscal and industrial governance directly impact individuals, households and communities, particularly those who are most marginalized in this crisis.”

Acknowledging the country’s historical ethnic issues and recent violent marginalization of certain minority communities is essential to understanding the political environment in Sri Lanka, according to DeVotta. 

“I think the thing that has been consistently relevant is the ethnonationalism associated with the post-independence development of the state and its link to democratic regression,” DeVotta said. “I think a lot of the problems that we see in the country are directly connected to this ethnocentric trajectory the state has pursued and the democratic regression that is associated with the trajectory.” 

According to Devarajan, it is important to understand historic ethnic and religious tensions when evaluating the current economic state of Sri Lanka. 

“Sri Lanka has two large language groups, as well as three major religions, and there’s no secret that certainly the relations between the Tamils and the Sinhalese has been problematic, and recently there’s been quite a lot of violence against Muslims,” Devarajan said. “So underlying this economic problem that I just described, I think there is an ethnic tension as well.”

DeVotta said it is important to examine the conflict from a variety of angles and not see the debt crisis as merely an economic issue. 

“Being able to deal with the ongoing crisis, via different perspectives, I think is interesting. The topic itself is timely,” Devotta said.