Sociology of the Rajapaksa phenomenon

Class and opportunity as explanatory categories

. . . One Leader! Mein Fuhrer!

by Kumar David-August 1, 2015, 12:00 pm 

The Dutugemanu syndrome, by itself, is not an inadequate explanation for the persistence of Rajapaksa’s popularity. Of course the defeat of the LTTE is one determinant of today’s Sinhala-Buddhist psyche, but alone it is insufficient explanation of the Rajapaksa phenomenon. For example, though it does account for the 2010 result, it is tangential to the sea of blue that painted the January 2015 results map and does not account for the frenzy in recent months. Disposing of Prabaharan six years ago is now a secondary factor that needs to be contextualised with sociological explanations.

Sociology of the Rajapaksa Phenomenon Class and Opportunity as Explanatory Categories by Thavam Ratna