Annual Report 2005 - Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka

IPS Research ThemesGovernanceIPS research on governance cuts across all research themes under the IPS research programme, and aims toprovide the decision makers in the Government as well as lead actors in civil society with its findings oncurrent issues in governance as they impact on the political, economic and social development of Sri Lanka.Towards this end, the research analyses the developments in regard to the effectiveness of the different areasof governance in Sri Lanka in contributing to the search for economic, social and political development.Currently, this research area focuses mainly on several inter-related issues.HighlightsEffectiveness of the Current Structures and Process of the Sri Lankan PolityThis relates to the effectiveness of the current structures and processes of the Sri Lankan polity in furtheringthe active participation of the citizenry in the processes of the making of policy and strategy decisions andtheir implementation management at the different spatial levels of governance . In this context, the researcharea continuously analyses the structures and processes of devolution that were superimposed throughconstitutional changes. And in particular, seeks to explore the nature and degree of resistance from vestedinterests against reforms that seek to enhance the direct participation of citizens in the processes of governancethrough progressive devolution. Further, as part of its pursuit of this issue area, issue of the responsibilitiesand functions as well as the structures and processes of the Cabinet of Ministers at the Centre of the polity, arealso addressed.Effectiveness of the Human Resources within the Different Institutions ofGovernanceThis relates to the effectiveness of the human resources within the different institutions of governance at itsthree levels. As a part of this focus, research seeks to address issues that relate to the approaches to theassessment of requirements of cadres for the achievement of specific programme outcomes, to the determinationof the tenures of such cadres, to the setting of remuneration and compensation packages for the different tasksthat are required to achieve governance objectives as well as to issues related to capacity development ofdifferent job-holders in a changing employment context.Impact of Spread of Corruption in the Different Public Sector Institutions on theEffectiveness of the Country’s GovernanceThis research is concerned with the progressive growth of corruptionin almost all institutions of governance – both political andadministrative – over the post-Independence decades. It also addressesthe impact of such factors as the constitutional changes that wereeffected over time, the effectiveness of the internal management ofpublic service cadres, the level of effectiveness of organizations ofcivil society in combating corruption as well as the effectiveness ofjudicial processes on the spread of corruption.ForthcomingPublicationsWanasinghe, Shelton,“Devolution Revisited(Towards A MoreEffective DevolutionaryPolity), IPS, Colombo, SriLanka30__________ Annual Report 2005