Non-governmental organization’s influence on contemporary nation states: With special reference to selected humanitarian NGOs in Sri Lanka in post-war era

Abstract

Non-governmental organizations have become influential actors in the international arena in 21st century. With the emergence of Civil War in Sri Lanka handful of international and local NGOs have operated wide spectrum of activities in Sri Lanka. After the end of the Civil War in 2009, Sri Lankan Government, security forces and LTTE have criticized by leading NGOs like Human Rights Watch, International Crisis Group, ICRC, and Amnesty International for human rights violations and war crimes, especially during the last few months of the armed conflict. In turn an anti-NGO movement and Sri Lankan Government adoption of new laws to supervise NGOs badly damaged the state-NGO relation. The researcher took efforts to study what kind of influence the humanitarian NGOs imposed on the state behavior of Sri Lanka in post war era. The main objective of the research is to examine the impact of NGOs on Sri Lanka‟s state behavior and state policies from 2009 to 2015and whether it became a threat to state sovereignty. Further more this research examined what are the strategies that NGOs use to influence Sri Lanka and the international challenges that Sri Lanka had to face and whether NGOs fulfilled the interests of their donor countries. The study has been conducted using both primary and secondary data and the study is a qualitative data analysis. Secondary data have been collected from books, journals, reports, and academic publications. Primary data have collected by interviewing diplomats, government officers, military officers, scholars and NGO staff through unstructured questionnaire method.The study has identified various strategies used by NGOs and main international challenges which Sri Lanka had to face in post war era. Mobilizing public opinion, interact with international community and publishing reports regarding human rights violations and war crimes led to the UN investigation on Sri Lanka and withdrawal of GSP+ concession. These influences have impacted on state behavior of Sri Lanka in post-war era.