ARAI Etsuyo

Previous research

I joined the JETRO Institute of Developing Economies in 1990 and was placed in charge of Sri Lanka. Although I did not realize that the fierce fighting had been going on for a long time not far from the capital, I documented the course of the civil war and delivered it to Japanese readers. At the same time, I tried to deepen my understanding of Sri Lanka by producing a summary of the insurgency by the People’s Liberation Front, who had been threatening the central government until a few years ago. When the civil war ended, I took the opportunity to write a summary of the political and economic situation in Sri Lanka up to that point in history. To understand the post-war situation, it became necessary to first investigate Sri Lanka’s relationships with China, and later those with India, Japan, and the United States.

Current research projects

Sri Lanka has undergone much change in the last decade. When it comes to politics in particular, things are very different today than they were when government rule alternated between the two traditional major parties. Since democratic elections were first held, an obvious family politics has arisen. Here, I attempt to clarify why this happened.