One of the most dramatic shifts is that the book ends with an unfinished article by Neelan Thiruchelvam, the main force behind the conference, in which the last section is an enumeration of the Thimpu Principles. These Principles are:

1) Recognition of the Sri Lankan Tamils as a distinct nationality.
2) Acknowledgment of the Tamil homeland and guarantee of its territorial integrity
3) Recognition of the Tamils’ right to self-determination, and
4) Provision of full citizenship and democratic rights to all Tamils.

If my memory serves me right, there was not a single mention of Thimpu at the 1997 conference.

Amazingly, in a discussion of peace in Sri Lanka, neither at the conference, nor in the book, was there any attempt made to hear the voice of one of the warring parties, the LTTE or of their supporters in the Northeast or in the diaspora. It would seem natural that, to obtain peace two sides in a conflict need to agree on a settlement, and to reach agreement the views of two sides must be aired. The organizers of the conference were either 1) so alienated from the views of the people of the Northeast that they could not articulate their position, and so abdicated their responsibility to create peace, or 2) were so convinced that the LTTE would be eliminated through Pres. Kumaratunga’s ‘War for Peace’ that their views were inconsequential.

Articles of two Tamils are included in this book, but the Tamils, Tiruchelvam and Rajasingam-Senanayake, both work for the Centre for Ethnic Studies in Colombo, not a representative sample. Rajasingam-Senanayake goes so far as to talk of the ‘myth of the Tamil homeland’ (p.68), because she has not lived in such a homeland the way those from the Northeast have.

Another striking thing about the book is the constant refrain that, the solution to the island’s problems is creation of a multiethnic and democratic polity and ethos. Rotberg ends his introduction to the volume, entitled "Sri Lanka’s Civil War," by saying:

However it is arrived at, Sri Lanka needs a peace that recognizes and appreciates Tamil culture and traditions. Ethnic fairness and justice must be the moral basis for whatever new social contract can be constructed on the wasteland of war. Fairness and justice can provide the normative framework for a new egalitarian system in which all ethnic groups are treated equally and equally valued. (p.16)

No matter how desirable these ideals are, Sri Lanka is very obviously not moving in this direction, as Jayadeva Uyangoda alone acknowledges in his article. Do the other authors have their heads in the clouds? There must be much more discussion on HOW to obtain a multiethnic polity which respects all components of society when intolerance and an unwillingness to share power are the most obvious features of government and society, no matter the rhetoric of high government officials and academics. Why are those who have given up on the capacity of Sri Lankan society to accept them as equal members villanized? Uyangoda explains his views on the Sri Lankan situation:

The resistance to sharing state power has been emphatically seen as a virtue among the elites and ethno-political cadres (Sinhalese as well as Tamil), and to a considerable extent among the masses too. The democratic political culture with which Sri Lanka has been so intimately associated excludes power-sharing based on ethnicity. Indigenization and domestication of democratic institutions and practices has occurred in such a way that they are presupposed to serve exclusive sectional interests. This is the discursive raison d'ętre of majoritarian unitarism as well as minoritarian separatism...But there is a massive problem: there is no political ideology historically capable of providing such a vision [of a new political culture that accepts yet transcends ethnicity]. At least in Sri Lanka’s case, there have been only two ideological strands that were capable of providing conceptual underpinnings for a non-ethnicized political order: Marxism and liberal humanism. With the historical decline of Marxism as well as liberal humanism, Sri Lanka’s problem has become infinitely complex. (p.167)

The articles contained in the book are as follows:

1. Robert I. Rotberg, ‘Sri Lanka’s Civil War: From Mayhem toward Diplomatic Resolution’
2. Chris Smith, ‘Sri Lanka’s Enduring War’
3. David Little, ‘Religion and Ethnicity in the Sri Lankan Civil War’
4. Darini Rajasingam-Senanayake, ‘The Danger of Devolution: The Hidden Economics’
5. Saman Kelegama, ‘Economic Costs of Conflict in Sri Lanka’
6. Donald R. Snodgrass, ‘The Economic Development of Sri Lanka: A Tale of Missed Opportunities’
7. Chandra R. de Silva, ‘The Role of Education in Ameliorating Political Violence in Sri Lanka’
8. Teresita Schaffer, ‘Peacemaking in Sri Lanka: The Kumaratunge Initiative’
9. William Weisberg and Donna Hicks, ‘Overcoming Obstacles to Peace: An Examination of Third-Party Processes’
10. Jayadeva Uyangoda, ‘A Political Culture of Conflict’
11. Rohan Edirisinghe, ‘Constitutionalism, Pluralism, and Ethnic Conflict: The Need for a New Initiative’
12. Neelan Tiruchelvam, ‘Devolution and the Elusive Quest for Peace’