The economic and social crisis in the island nation of Sri Lanka, once hailed as a model democracy, was a long time coming.
According to Sasanka Perera, who is a Sri Lankan and teaches sociology at the South Asian University in New Delhi, the signs were visible for some time and many observers and experts had warned that the economic policies and cronyism would end in disaster.
“All kinds of advisors were appointed, in the civil services, who had no expertise of any kind,” he says in a podcast discussion with Sidharth Bhatia. “Money raised from international markets was invested in all kinds of projects.”
The country’s democracy began diminishing because of social policies, he says. He is not optimistic about things getting better soon. “The current parliament cannot get Sri Lanka out of its mess, elections won’t help either.”