Sri Lanka: The security problems of a small state

The objective of this study is to consider the security aspect of Sri Lanka in historical perspective and in the context of its neighbors. The security aspect is also discussed in the light of ethnic conflict. Small states like Sri Lanka need new and multi-dimensional approaches to old practices especially when a country's very survival is at stake. Lacking a militarily adequate physical size and an ability for flexible defense, a small state has to rely on strategic insights, skills and tactics to outwit the aggressor. Above all, a well-defined strategy for national security should receive the highest priority in the nation's political agenda. The choices before a small state confronted by a powerful regional power, seeking to fill a vacuum left by a colonial hegemon, are limited and intrinsically unpalatable. Small states like Sri Lanka will need to keep their diplomatic options open as to wide a range of influences as possible without committing themselves to any single course of action. What is required is not a systematic linkage, but a partial one. Regional groupings are, by and large, the least disadvantageous, if not most desirable, for small states. Despite the massive disorientation in India's foreign policy stemming from the winding down of Cold War tensions, and the fading away of her links with the former Soviet Union with the latter's dissolution, links which had been the pivot of India's foreign and defense policies since the late 1960s - all of India's neighbors in South Asia will continue to face the common problem of a relationship in which every possible calculation is weighted in favor of India and against her smaller neighbors.