Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Manifesting Sri Lankan Megalomania: The Rajapakses’ Vision of Empire and of a Clean Colombo

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Urban Utopias

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology ((PSUA))

Abstract

Fuglerud situates the ongoing urban renewal in Colombo within the wider economic and political context of President Mahinda Rajapakse’s rule in Sri Lanka during the period 2005–2014. The main two factors behind the many forced evictions of low-income communities from central Colombo in the last decade are the deployment of an authoritarian technology of ‘zoning’, privileging some segments of the population while neglecting others, and the building of an economic alliance with China. Urban renewal has been a way of building political support through the promise of a ‘world class’ future for the aspiring.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Appadurai, A. 1996. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Central Bank of Sri Lanka. 2012. Economic and Social Statistics of Sri Lanka 2012. Central Bank of Sri Lanka: Colombo.

    Google Scholar 

  • CPA. 2014. Forced Evictions. The Ugly Price of Beautification. Center for Policy Alternatives: Colombo.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Mel, Neloufer. 2007. Militarizing Sri Lanka: Popular Culture, Memory and Narrative in the Sri Lankan Armed Conflict. New Delhi: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department of Census and Statistics. 2001. Statistical Abstract, 2001, Ministry of Finance and Planning, Sri Lanka

    Google Scholar 

  • Economic and Political Weekly. 2013. Cementing Hegemony. Politics of Urban Transformation in Post-War Colombo. 48, 34. Accessed 15 February 2016. http://www.epw.in/journal/2013/34/commentary/cementing-hegemony.html?0=ip_login_no_cache%3Df3273df4979e3eb59d1cf05e7813081c

  • Ghertner, D. Asher. 2011. Rule by Aesthetics: World Class City making in Delhi. In Worlding Cities. Asian Experiments and the Art of Being Global, ed. Ananda Roy and Aihwa Ong, 279–306. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • GlickSchiller, Nina, and Noel B. Salazar. 2012. Regimes of Mobility Across the Globe. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies iFirst article: 1–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldman, Michael. 2011. Speculating on the Next World City. In Worlding Cities. Asian Experiments and the Art of Being Global, ed. Ananda Roy and Aihwa Ong, 229–258. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gunasekara, Tisaranee. 2010. ‘Rajapaksas’ Operation Colombo. Sunday Leader, September 26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hettige, Siri T. 1995. Economic Liberalization and the Emerging Patterns of Social Inequality in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Journal of Social Sciences 18(1 & 2): 89–115.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marantidou, Virginia. 2014. Revisiting China’s “String of Pearls” Strategy: Places “with Chinese Characteristics” and their Security Implications. Issues and Insights 14(7): 1–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ong, Aihwa. 2006. ‘Introduction: Neoliberalism as Exception, Exception to Neoliberalism’, in Neoliberalism as Exception. Mutations in Citizenship and Sovereignty, Ahiwa Ong. Durban and London: Duke University Press. Pp: 1 – 27

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2011a. Worlding Cities, or the Art of Being Global. In Worlding Cities. Asian Experiments and the Art of Being Global, ed. Ananda Roy and Aihwa Ong, 1–26. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2011b. Hyperbuilding: Spectacle, Speculation, and the Hyperspace of Sovereignty. In Worlding Cities. Asian Experiments and the Art of Being Global, ed. Ananda Roy and Aihwa Ong, 205–226. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pehrson, Christopher J. 2006. String of Pearls: Meeting the Challenge of China’s Rising Power across the Asian Littoral. Strategic Studies Institute, United States Army War College, July, pp. 1–31. Accessed 10 March 2016. http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/pub721.pdf

  • Perera, Iromi. 2015. Forced Evictions in Colombo: High Rise Living. Colombo: Center for Policy Alternatives

    Google Scholar 

  • Roy, Ananda, and Aihwa Ong, ed. 2011. Worlding Cities. Asian Experiments and the Art of Being Global. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sahn, David E., and Neville Edirisinghe. 1993. The Politics of Food Policy in Sri Lanka: From Basic Human Needs to an Increased Market Orientation. In The Political Economy of Food and Nutrition Policies, ed. Per Pinstrup-Andersen. Baltimore and London: John Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sevanatha. 2003. Understading Slums: The Case of Colombo. Studies for the Global Report on Human Settlement. Rajagiriya: Urban Resource Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shatkin, Gavin. 2011. Planning Privatopolis: Representation and Contestation in the Development of Urban Integrated Mega-Projects. In Worlding Cities. Asian Experiments and the Art of Being Global, ed. Ananda Roy and Aihwa Ong, 77–97. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Skanthakumar, B. 2013. Growth with inequality: The political economy of neoliberalism in Sri Lanka. Country Paper for the South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE) Crises, Vulnerability and Poverty in South Asia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, Niel A. 2010. Understanding Sri Lanka’s Defeat of the Tamil Tigers. Joint Force Quarterly 59 (4th Quarter 2010): 40. Accessed 20 February 2016. http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20090523_04

  • Tudawe, Indra. 2001. Chronic Poverty and Development Policy in Sri Lanka: Overview Study. Manchester: Chronic Poverty Research Centre.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Øivind Fuglerud

Authors
  1. Øivind Fuglerud
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Tereza Kuldova

  2. Department of Political Science, Maharajas College, Kerala, India

    Mathew A. Varghese

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Fuglerud, Ø. (2017). Manifesting Sri Lankan Megalomania: The Rajapakses’ Vision of Empire and of a Clean Colombo. In: Kuldova, T., Varghese, M. (eds) Urban Utopias. Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47623-0_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47623-0_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47622-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47623-0

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation