‘United we stand, divided we fall’: a case study of Sri Lankan youth in citizenship development

摘要

Citizenship is essentially a legal formality that denotes membership of a state. However, it should contain an emotional element for individuals to willingly identify themselves with the nation-state. The absence of such emotion often prompts bloody conflicts where people attempt to carve independent entities of power by fragmenting the nation-state. Youth, with their inherent zest for grand ventures, are often keen participants and even initiators of such conflicts. Citizenship therefore should entail an active process of emotional engagement especially of youth in order that sustainable solidarity may be fostered. Sri Lanka stands as an ideal case study in this regard, demonstrating the terrible consequences of the isolation of youth – whether real or perceived – from the collective identity of the state and the equally powerful impact they can have when properly integrated into the state mechanism. This paper discusses Tamil youth disillusionment in Sri Lanka that manifested itself in a vicious ethnic conflict in juxtaposition with the role of Sri Lankan youth as agents of peaceful change in a post-war nation-building context. In drawing a conclusion, the paper discusses the importance of active civic engagement of youth in building ‘One Nation One People’.