{"id":95682,"date":"2019-11-27T20:01:30","date_gmt":"2019-11-28T02:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=95682"},"modified":"2019-11-27T12:30:35","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T19:30:35","slug":"gotabayas-rise-is-part-of-a-greater-global-phenomenon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/11\/27\/gotabayas-rise-is-part-of-a-greater-global-phenomenon\/","title":{"rendered":"Gotabaya\u2019s rise is part of a greater global phenomenon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harinda Vidanage Courtesy Strategic News International<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The new President elect of Sri Lanka, \nGotabaya Rajapaksa, is only a week into his administration, but he has \nalready hit the turbo gear and is on full throttle. The president \nexpects everyone in his governance mechanism, including his two elder \nsiblings \u2013 irrespective of the fact that one was a two-term president \nand the other the eldest brother in the family \u2013 to deliver results at \nthe same pace with which he is cruising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka is experiencing an unprecedented \npolitical transformation that many Sri Lankans have been yearning for in\n the backdrop of the abysmal failure of the good governance regime that \nwas promised by the previous government. This article is not an analysis\n of the domestic political shaping of the new presidency, instead it \nattempts to explain the rise of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as a symbol\n of a much larger global political phenomenon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The South Asian Trinity<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In 2014, a then little-known political \nfigure in the rest of India \u2013 despite being Chief Minister of Gujarat \nfor nearly a decade \u2013 became the BJP nominee for premiership during the \nLok Sabha elections. Narendra Modi, who was seen by Western powers as a \nkey figure in the 2002 Gujarat riots, was shunned by the Western world \nfor a long time. He, however, broke all historical conventions and \npolitical narratives to become India\u2019s undisputed strong man. Even since\n becoming prime minister in 2014, he has steered India into a formidable\n regional and global standing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modi\u2019s meteoric rise was heralding a new \npolitical era in India, the so-called \u2018Third Republic\u2019 that would propel\n it further into the center of the world stage and with confidence \nrealise its full potential. He promised a \u2018New India\u2019, a slogan that won\n the hearts and minds of his followers. Today, his track record is open \nto debate, yet it does not change the fact that Modi was the turning \npoint in India\u2019s recent political history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India\u2019s traditional nuclear rival Pakistan \u2013\n plagued by political instabilities, hounded by the United States under \nPresident Trump yet zealously guarded and empowered by China \u2013 had its \nModi moment during its general election in 2018. A leader emerged out of\n a new political grouping, defying the two traditional political parties\n which have exchanged powers for decades since Independence. A \ncricketing hero, championing Pakistani national interests, defying \nWestern powers and riding on a massive wave of support from urban, rural\n and tribal Pakistan, Imran Khan ran and won on the promise of a \u2018New \nPakistan.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voters in India and Pakistan were both \nwooed by a common message, a calling that broke from past political \nnarratives. This was a message not just of hope but of a new beginning. \nFor Indians and Pakistanis, living under circumstances of incremental \nchange as a result of political transitions since Independence, the \npromise of renewal from Modi and Khan was a game changer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modi is riding a wave of popularity not \njust within India but among Indian diasporans globally; he won his \nsecond term in 2019 with an increased mandate from the first. In \nPakistan, political analysts were skeptical of an Imran Khan \npremiership, it was deemed a failure, yet today he hangs in and seems to\n be making headlines locally and globally for being the change agent he \npromised to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India\u2019s foreign policy and global posture \nhas broken its Nehru Gandhian framework which was pretty much the status\n quo since 1947. The country today is flexing its muscles across the \nregion and has a clear plan for its global role. As Professor Raja Mohan\n eloquently writes in his book Modi\u2019s World<\/em>, Modi has managed \nto expand and strengthen India\u2019s sphere of influence, thus India\u2019s \npresent and foreseeable future is and will be \u2018Modian\u2019 by design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With last week\u2019s presidential election \noutcome in Sri Lanka, South Asia completes the trinity. The tech-savvy \nand innovative Indian Prime Minister, the modern and sophisticated \nPakistani leader, and an action-driven no-nonsense President Gotabaya \nRajapaksa from Sri Lanka, complete an iron triangle of political leaders\n spearheading change in the South Asian political landscape in the 21st<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regional and Global leadership<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Xi Jinping, since his ascendancy first as \nthe chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and President of China in \n2013, has helped China shed its long-time self-constraints of external \nengagements. Modern China and its prosperity are attributed to its \nenterprising leader, the late Deng Xiaoping. Deng transformed a China \nthat was rural, poor and low tech into a vastly urbanised society with \nmassive infrastructure development projects making up the backbone of \nChina\u2019s massive empowerment drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China\u2019s domestic developmental success \nthrough infrastructure development has become the key driver of current \nPresident Xi Jinping\u2019s Belt and Road initiative (BRI) which is a \nplanetary level strategy of connecting China with the rest of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xi Jinping belongs to the new breed of \nleaders who are self-made change agents. He has broken China\u2019s \nself-imposed isolation when it comes to foreign policy and its regional \nand global ambitions. He has clearly outlined China\u2019s global ambitions \nwhich demonstrates his ambition to lead China\u2019s transformation into a \n\u2018fully developed nation\u2019 by 2049. President Xi has set this as a policy \ngoal to celebrate the centenary of the creation of modern China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From President Erdogan in Turkey, President\n Maduro in Venezuela, President Putin in Russia, President Macron in \nFrance, Prime Minister Abe in Japan to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin \nSalman, all of them have become change agents and are challenging the \ncontextual intelligence of international relations scholars who have \npitted their belief on global governance and global institutions as \nfactors that shape leaders. The rise of these self-made leaders and \ntheir policies are setting up a chain reaction of disruptions that are \ntransforming global politics and creating an alternative set of new \npolitical realities in the 21st<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many factors why global politics \nand their local manifestations are shaped by new leaders or established \nleaders taking new trajectories. The causes range from decay in legacy \nsystems, liberal institutionalism and liberal internationalism reaching \nits limits and strategic blunders of liberal powers. These have all \ncreated a popular revulsion of traditional politics, institutions, and \nleaders who are products of such systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has been exacerbated by the rise of \ninformation economics and cyber politics, as it is not merely the \ntechnologies but the platforms and narratives as well. Today, if a \nleader can use the technology strategically, he or she will build \nformidable networks of power. In a recent article in the online journal Foreign Affairs<\/em>,\n Professors Daniel Byman and Kenneth M. Pollack argue, \u2018The information \nrevolution has given rise to the super-empowered individual and the \nsuper-empowered state and pitted them against each other\u2019. Sri Lanka\u2019s \nnew presidency needs to be understood from this global context not \nexclusively from the domestic frameworks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gota\u2019s X-Factor<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is seen as a \ntech-savvy individual and he has encouraged many in both the civilian \nand security sector to invest in technologies for national security, and\n later urban planning and development, while functioning as the \nsecretary of defense during the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to Sri Lanka\u2019s global \nprojection and our foreign policy initiatives, the new president will \nseek to adopt a pragmatic foreign policy which he is compelled to do. We\n are moving into an era of intense geopolitical rivalries, breakdown of \nglobal governance mechanisms and alternative forms of international \ncooperation. Thus, in a time where both completion and collaboration \nco-exist in parallel universes, making the job of any national leader \nchallenging, this demands strategic vision to penetrate the distortions \nof contradictory global forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to the current Sri Lankan \npresident, there have been concerns regarding his lack of political \nexperience, of not holding political office. This was one of the main \ncritiques before and during the election campaign with which the \nOpposition targeted Mr. Rajapaksa. But one interesting observation here \nis that when you are not clouded by political interests and lenses, it \nprovides a fresh leader with limitless clarity to see the world and work\n out responses. It also helps them to be very honest and forthcoming in \ndiplomatic dealings and interactions with diplomats and other global \nleaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western and non-western ambassadors have \nalready commented on this aspect regarding the new president of Sri \nLanka. Thus, when things are so complicated and complex in the global \npolitical scenario: clarity, honesty, and transparency can boost the \nX-factor of this leader and enable interactions that preserve and \nadvance our national interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gotabaya Rajapaksa has emboldened these \nuniversal values within the Sri Lankan political psyche, while his \nbrother \u2013 former president and newly sworn-in prime minister \u2013 Mahinda \nRajapaksa has used his charm for political appeal. Gotabaya\u2019s mantra of \nmeritocracy, apolitical institutionalism and national security \nenhancement as the pillars on which a new Sri Lanka can stand is a \nmessage that all Sri Lankans are emphatically embracing. The new \npresident will face many domestic and global challenges, yet Sri Lanka \nlooks confident in its outlook. From people to markets there is a \nresurgence of hope and confidence. How this will pan out in the future? \nTime will tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                               \u2014   Reprinted with permission from the Daily Mirror    <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author is Director, Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS) in Colombo. Views are personal <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harinda Vidanage Courtesy Strategic News International The new President elect of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is only a week into his administration, but he has already hit the turbo gear and is on full throttle. The president expects everyone in his governance mechanism, including his two elder siblings \u2013 irrespective of the fact that one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95682\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}