Dinesha Samararatne - Constitutionalism, State Capture and Rescue: What may we learn from Sri Lanka?
Sri Lanka's recent experiences with constitutional democracy reveal the ways in which the state may be captured by state actors. A crisis of elected representation becomes the launch pad for systematically eroding the idea of a state. In this context, the deliberate subversion of the Constitution, constitutional amendments and constitutional institutions may be observed. Interestingly, it is in this very context that demands for more effective and meaningful representation as well as for constitutional governance emerge. The intense political and constitutional developments of the 21st century that unfolded in Sri Lanka reveal the complex and dynamic ways in which these demands emerge, are revived, sustained and sometimes, make a meaningful impact. Drawing from these experiences, this talk will explore the concept of state capture and its relationship to constitutional governance. The idea of state rescue will be invoked to interpret the attempts to address this type of state capture.
Speakers
Dinesha Samararatne is a Professor at the Department of Public & International Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. She is a Senior Fellow of the Melbourne Law School, Australia and Editor of the University of Colombo Review. In 2023 she was appointed as an independent expert to the Constitutional Council of Sri Lanka. Her research interests include judicial review, public participation in constitution-making, constitutional resilience, women and constitutional law, guarantor institutions, academic freedom and the relevance of the global south in comparative constitutional law.
- Good Governance