Sri Lankan Crisis: A Jurisprudential Overview
![handle is hein.journals/ijlmhs17 and id is 206 raw text is: International Journal of Law Management & Humanities
Sri Lankan Crisis: A Jurisprudential
Overview
KUSAL AMARASINGHEI
ABSTRACT
The old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum, there arises a great
diversity of morbid symptoms. - Antonio Gramsci, Prison Notebooks
Sri Lanka is now at the edge of a Socio-Economic and Political collapse. The country has
descended into its worst financial crisis since independence, with food, fuel, medicine and
electricity becoming increasingly scarce. During and after the Covid-19 pandemic
situation, mismanagement of the government led the country to chaos. Now, thousands take
to the streets to call for the resignation of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the entire
government. Also, they demand an audit of the wealth of the Rajapaksa family and their
henchmen. The people reject and neglect the government as well as the parliament and
demand all power to the people.
Keywords - Constitution, Grundnorm, Sovereignty, Sri Lanka.
I. INTRODUCTION
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa became the Executive President of Sri Lanka in the 2019 Presidential
Election with 52.25% of the votes. He has two and half more years in his five-year term. After
the general election held in 2020, President Rajapaksa's party, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna
(SLPP) won 2/3 majority of the parliament and enacted the 20th amendment to the constitution
which strengthen the executive presidency. From the beginning, the new president and his
government declared a pro-nationalist agenda before the country.
Government revenue was greatly reduced due to the failure of the authorities to properly
manage the Covid 19 pandemic and the granting of Tax relieves to large capital ownerships.
Also, the government was alleged for many corruptions even during the pandemic period.
However, this crisis has a history of decades. The volcano was activated by corruption and
mismanagement of the government during the last two years. What has emerged today is not
an independent or isolated crisis, but a collective representation of many politically and
economically interconnected crises. The economic crisis was created by the free market
economy after the introduction of the open economy system in 1977, while the present political
1 Author is an Attorney-At-Law and Lecturer (Probationary) at Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
© 2022. International Journal of Law Management & Humanities [ISSN 2581-5369]
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[Vol. 5 Iss 3; 206]](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ijlmhs17&div=19&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Sri Lankan Crisis: A Jurisprudential Overview
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