Conflict Prevention: A Sri Lankan Case Study

Abstract

A review of literature has indicated that the conflict prevention skill through resources management among Sri Lankans has not been fully understood. Sri Lanka suffered economic development setbacks due to the bloody civil war for thirty years. The conflict ended with a military victory in May 2009. Lack of understanding of the perceptual factors associated with conflict prevention through resource management skill must have played a pivotal role initiating the thirty-year bloody war. Military victory alone will not help Sri Lanka to achieve economic development goals. Ability to manage resources for the same goal preventing conflicts by the public is important. The objective of this research was to examine how Sri Lankan public manage their resources to prevent a conflict. Face to face interviews with fifteen persons belonging to the three main ethnic groups living in the Colombo district were conducted to analyze how they manage variables; finance, energy, water, education, media and, information and communication technology resources to prevent a conflict. A seven scale questionnaire with 152 questions was developed based on the interviews. It was circulated among 390 randomly selected at all divisional areas of the Colombo district and a qualitative analysis was done. Colombo suffered the worst economically during the civil war and represents all ethnic groups. These findings indicate that the public will compromise political interests and certain rights if high financial benefits and security is ensured. It also indicates that understanding the bridge between human behaviours on resources management and conflict prevention can be used to implement effective development plans in a society especially after a long conflict.