States of Emergency - Centre for Policy Alternatives

CHAPTER
VI
CONCLUSION
“…unseen, inscrutable, invisible,
As a nose on a man’s face, or a weathercock on a steeple”
William Shakespeare, Two
Gentlemen
of
Verona, Act II, Sc. 1
This book began by establishing its fundamental analytical
perspective that – to properly accommodate states of emergency
within the rule of law, and to ensure that fundamental human
rights are protected whilst granting to executive government the
powers necessary to effectively deal with the crisis – the clear
appreciation of a distinction between what is ‘normal’ and what is
‘exceptional’ needed to be made. It is only if this distinction is
made that we can think clearly about how to strike the
appropriate balance in the inherent tension between order and
democracy, and make informed policy choices accordingly. More
often than not however, in Sri Lanka, it is impossible to have a
dispassionate conversation about such choices and alternatives,
because these issues are intimately connected to emotional
debates about broader matters of great political signiLicance such
as identity, ethnicity, religion, and history. In the midst of violent
conLlict, differences are sharpened, and it becomes increasingly
difLicult to achieve social consensus on such matters as essential
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