The illusion of devolution: Why Sri Lanka's 13th Amendment to the Constitution failed to foster reconciliation

Abstract

The 13th Amendment to Sri Lanka's Constitution was introduced in 1987 through the Indo-Lanka Accord to resolve ethnic conflict by devolving powers to the Northern and Eastern provinces. However, it failed to deliver societal reconciliation to marginalised communities. This study addresses a central puzzle: If elites believe that power-sharing leads to conflict transformation, why did the amendment fail to foster grassroots healing and resolve the issues of the affected community? Applying Dugan's Nested Model of Conflict and Lederach's Conflict Transformation Pyramid, the study argues that the amendment's elite-driven, top-down application conflated political reconciliation with societal reconciliation and systematically excluded middle-range and grassroots leadership. Based on 17 semi-structured interviews and one focus group discussion, the findings reveal that the amendment addressed neither the structural and relational causes of conflict nor engaged middle-range and grassroots leadership in trust-building, psychosocial recovery, and trauma healing beyond its attempts at political settlements.