A democratic paradox: The communalisation of politics in Ceylon, 1911-1948

Contributions to the Anthropology of Iran. By Henry Field, Curator of Physical Anthropology, University of Chicago, December, 1939. Vol. 29, No. I, 508 pp., 22 text figures, 1 map. 9½” × 6½”. $5.50. Vol. 29, No. II, 198 pp., 4 text figures, 144 plates. 9½” × 6½”. $2.25. Maps A and B, Distribution of Tribes in Iraq and Western Iran, 10” × 24½”, with list of tribal names.

Once in Sinai. By J. M. C. Plowden (Madame Charles Jullien), with a foreword by Major C. S. Jarvis. 9” × 6”. XXV. + 302 pp. 18 Illustrations. 7 Sketch Maps and 1 fold‐in Map. Methuen and Co., Ltd. 1940. 12s. 6d.

La Turquie, Centre de Gravité des Balkans et du Proche Orient. By Gerard Tongas. Préface de S. E. M. Suad Davas. Pp. 276. 7¾” × 5¾”. Paris : Geuthner. 1939.

Gelawêj (Sirius). A Kurdish literary and cultural monthly magazine, 9¾” × 6¾” each number about 64 pp. Baghdad: Najah Press, December, 1939; January and February, 1940.

Rome and China. By F. J. Teggart. Pp. xii, 245; 14 Maps, 9½” × 6½”. University of California Press. 1939. 18s.

Mohammed and Charlemagne. By Henri Pirenne. Translated by Bernard Miall. Pp. 293. Allen and Unwin. London. 1939. 10s. 6d. net.

Jenghiz Khan. By C. C. Walker, Squadron‐Leader Royal Canadian Air Force. 10” × 6½”. Pp. 215. 7 Maps in Colour. London : Luzac. 1940. 17s. 6d.

What are the Jews? Their Significance and Position in the Modern World. By Rabbi Israel I. Mattuck, A.M., D.H.L. 7½” × 5½” Pp. 256. Hodder and Stoughton. 5s.

The Throne of the Gods. By A. Heim and A. Gansser. Translated by Eden and Freda Paul. 22 Plates, 18 Sketches in text, 11 musical items, and Relief Map. 233 pp. of text. 9½” × 6¼”. Macmillan. 21s

Cultural Relations on the Kansu‐Tibetan Border. By Robert B. Ekvall. University of Chicago Press. Pp. 87. $1.50.

A Cavalier in China. By Colonel A. W. S. Wingate, C.M.G. With a Foreword by Sir Francis Younghusband, K.C.S.I., K.C.I.E. Illustrated. Pp. 327. Grayson. 1940. 15s.

Dersu the Trapper. Exploring, trapping, hunting in Ussuria. Translated from the Russian of V. K. 8½” × 6”. Secker and Warburg.

Shanghai and Tientsin. By F. C. Jones‐ With the co‐operation of certain members of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. 9” × 6”. Pp. x + 182. Five plans. Oxford University Press. 7s. 6d.

Warning Lights of Asia. By Gerald Samson. With 32 plates and 7 maps. Pp. xvii + 311. Robert Hale. 1940. 15s.

Memorandum on the Kahilu Sanctuary. By D'Arcy Weatherbe. (Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, Vol. XLI., No. I, August, 1939.)

The Arabic Listener. Published by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Printed in England by Stephen Austin and Sons, Ltd.

Climate and Ecliptic Tilt. By Brigadier N. M. McLeod, from the R.A. Journal, April, 1940.

A Winter in Arabia. By Freya Stark. 9¼” × 6½” Pp. xii + 328. Illustrations from the author's own collection of photographs and 3 maps. London : John Murray. 1940. 16s.     

Elite patronage over party democracy – high politics in Sri Lanka following independence

When Sri Lanka became independent in February 1948 it lacked a well-established party system and instead relied upon patronage and elite social relationships. Though it had a long pre-independence history of constitutional development and evolving democracy, party politics was not deep-rooted and political power continued to be wielded by an elite that had an almost feudal relationship with the masses. The convention based Westminster model Sri Lanka adopted engendered a local system that relied more on relationships than rules. Political parties and institutions were often unable to check and balance the Executive's conduct of power. Sri Lanka's elite operated British institutions in an anachronistic eighteenth-century manner such as in having a patronage-based Cabinet dominated by its prime ministerial leader/patron rather than by collegial attitudes or values. The weakness of party institutionalisation and the ambiguity in the constitutional arrangements laid the foundations for future political conflict and marginalisation of segments of society. The continuity of affairs of state from the colonial era and the known and reassuring leadership of D.S. Senanayake and his ‘Uncle-Nephew Party’ masked the democratic tensions and institutional fragility within the Sri Lankan state that would come to the fore violently only years after what was then seen as a model transfer of power.