Post-war crime, strongman politics and peacebuilding

'Linking war, war economy and post-war crime in Sri Lanka'

In this chapter in War Economies and Post-war Crime, Shyamika Jayasundara-Smits has contributed an article entitled Lost in transition: linking war, war economy and post-war crime in Sri Lanka in which she investigates the dominant types of crimes reported from post-war Sri Lanka and the mechanisms linking them with the war economy. She identifies the culture of impunity, continued militarization and enduring corruption as key mechanisms through which the war economy and post-war bodily and material crime are linked.

'Inclusive peacebuilding in the European capacity building mission in Sahel–Mali (EUCAP Sahel–Mali)'

In another book published by Routledge, Whole of Society Peacebuilding, she has contributed a chapter on Bracing the wind and riding the norm life cycle: inclusive peacebuilding in the European capacity building mission in Sahel–Mali (EUCAP Sahel–Mali). In the chapter she investigates how the European Capacity Building mission for the Malian Security Forces (EUCAP Sahel–Mali) is operationalizing two key EU-SSR-related norms – local ownership and inclusivity – and manoeuvres context and programme specific challenges. She argues the EUCAP mission has been largely functional than normative driven, thus reducing the EU’s overall reputation as a normative actor, particularly in the area of security.

Concerns about a return to strongman rule in Sri Lanka

In this interview with World Politics Review, Shyamika Jayasundara-Smits discusses the rise of drug-related crime in Sri Lanka and the government's move to bring a return to the death penalty to deal with such crimes. She points to the return of strongman politics and authoritarian rule after the end of the civil war.