AUTHORITARIANISM IN THE AGE OF MARKET LIBERALISM IN SRI-LANKA

The agenda for ''good governance'' postulates that it constitutes both a precondition for and an outcome of economic development. In direct opposition, neo-Marxist analyses assert a causal link between economic Liberalization and bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes. This article a rgues that the relationship between governance and economic developmen t cannot-be resolved in such abstract and ahistorical terms but must b e approached through concrete analyses of political strategies around and within the post-colonial state. A closer examination of authoritar ianism and economic liberalization in Sri Lanka supports this argument .