How Sri Lanka defeated the LTTE

[Jedburgh]

.....I mainly want to focus on the shift in strategy over the last decade, how they handled the international objections (human rights), and prospects for long term stability.

Bottom line, am looking for good books and articles as sources, or credible websites. This isn't a dissertation, but the sources need some rigor.

There is a tremendous amount available on the human rights issue, so I won't bother with that. But here's some other material you may find of use:

UK House of Commons report with a brief general history and a detailed look at the conflict from '02 on: War and Peace in Sri Lanka

A pair of RSIS commentaries: Ending the LTTE: Recipe for Counterterrorism? and Military Defeat of the Tamil Tigers: From Velvet Glove to Iron Fist.

And this one from the East-West Center, published just before the final push by the Sri Lankans: Countering Violent Extremism: The Fate of the Tamil Tigers

Outside of complaints regarding the campaign against the LTTE, the Sri Lankan government isn't looking so clean in plainer terms. Since winning the presidential election last month, Rajapaksa has had his political opponent arrested, purged the military and assaulted/jailed numbers of journalists who were critical of him during the election campaign. Opposition protests have been broken up by the police in Colombo and other cities. Even without the LTTE, the government is doing itself no favors in the legitimacy/stability department.

[Cavguy]

Thanks for all the sources. My paper (last of grad school!) will likely point out that the LTTE's defeat is owed mostly due to the following factors:

1) Political Isolation from terror attacks
2) Reduction of its expat funding network (related to #1 in the EU and India)
3) Physical (geographical) isolation
4) Introduction of massive aid and political cover from China on the government side that allowed the "ruthless" approach.

Overall, I think the tactics used by the Sri Lankan government didn't really change, mainly the shaping conditions.

My graduate thesis came to the conclusion that possession of external support and sanctuary were the best predictors of insurgent victory, rather than the tactic used. This action is another confirming case study.