Shades of Peace: Perceptions of Security in Sri Lanka

• In Event: The Impact of Civil War Settlements on Citizens’ Attitudes and Agency

Abstract

How do people in post-war societies perceive the nature of peace? The absence of war does not automatically translate into individuals feeling at peace, while peace itself is a multidimensional concept. We aim to understand how individuals assess political stability, personal security, and freedom of speech. We suggest that war experience, media consumption and views on media freedom, as well as how individuals evaluate the performance of the state shape these perceptions of different shades of peace. Using original survey data from a representative sample of 2,000 respondents in Sri Lanka in 2018, we show that individuals can view political stability, personal security and freedom of speech very differently. Our findings suggest that clear winners of the past conflict are not necessarily the most optimistic about the quality of post-conflict peace.

Authors

• Sabine C. Carey, University of Mannheim

• Belen Gonzalez, University of Mannheim

• Christian Gläßel, University Mannheim