Abstract:
In the past India has repeatedly expressed much concern about the consequences of Sri Lanka's
ethnic conflict for her national security. India has even militarily intervened in Sri Lanka to secure a
solution to the conflict in the past. During 2000-2006 however, when the fourth Peace Process was
established in Sri Lanka the Indian government showed a reluctance to engage actively and directly
in the Sri Lankan Peace Process. This research examines reasons for India's reluctance to play a
direct role in the Peace Process 2000/2006. It explores Indian foreign policy changes towards Sri
Lanka and argues that India has changed it's foreign policy towards Sri Lanka, adopting a fusion of
'hard' and 'soft' power strategies. It contends that Indian foreign policy is increasingly governed by
economic policies. The research explores how Indian trade, investment, credit/aid, and tourism in Sri
Lanka generate soft power for India while creating a strong dependence of Sri Lanka on the Indian
economy creating an asymmetric economic interaction that affords India leverage over many
overarching issues that affect Sri Lanka. This research examines this economic relationship and
argues that it allows India to influence Sri Lankan politics and polices through indirect means. To
illustrate these findings both archival and primary research was conducted. Twenty-two interviews
were conducted among three diverse categories; academics, politicians and political advisors and
Indian investors to ascertain their views on Indo-Lanka relations and India's foreign policy towards
Sri Lanka. The findings are indicative that Indian foreign policy towards the Sri Lankan conflict and
Peace Processes has changed in recent years. It shows that Indian foreign policy has evolved from
mainly hard power strategies in the 1980- and early 1990s to become a fusion of both hard and soft
power strategies with more focus on economic relations, in the late 1990s and 21s t century thereby
being more holistic and multi-dimensional.
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