THE EURO-CENTRISM DEBATE : RELEVANCE OF WESTERN-CENTRIC MODEL OF NATION-STATE IN POST-COLONIAL SRI LANKA

The concept of modern state bears the burden of European political thought and ideals. Many of the notions such as, citizenship, human rights, popular sovereignty, democratic government and independent judiciary are based on the principle of national self-determination, which is the bedrock of the nation-state system. However the creation of nation-states outside the Europe in the aftermath of the decolonization process led to conflicts of legitimacy. In this context, this paper tries to analyze the relevance of the Western-centric model of nation-state in the nation-building efforts of Sri Lanka and to investigate to what extent this choice of model can be offered as an explanation for the failure of Sri Lanka to emerge as a successful nation-state.