Paradise Poisoned: Learning About Conflict, Terrorism and Development from Sri Lanka's Civil Wars (Hardcover)

by John Richardson (Author) "I first heard this question while participating in a seminar on 'Sri Lanka's Ethnic Conflict' one humid Colombo afternoon in June 1987..." (more)
Key Phrases: violent conflict intensity, global south nations, open economy reforms, Sri Lanka, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Dudley Senanayake (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Could actions have been taken prior to September 11 th to prevent the formation of a strong and resilient al Qaeda ? Might alternative development policies have prevented the World Trade Center attacks and forestalled the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq? Paradise Poisoned draws crucial lessons from Sri Lanka's civil wars to demonstrate that violent conflict and terrorism are both predictable and preventable .

John Richardson's study - carried out over nearly twenty years - employs rigorous political and economic analysis and a multi-disciplinary engagement of the systemic linkages between development, governance, and civil conflict. The author - a noted development professor and practitioner, applied systems theorist, and South Asian scholar - traces ten development failures that spawned conflict and terrorism in Sri Lanka, and he proposes a comprehensive prevention strategy summarised in ten key imperatives.

Thus, while contextually rich in its examination of Sri Lankan political history, the policy relevance of Paradise Poisoned extends also to cases like Kosovo, Kashmir, Palestine, Sudan, Afghanistan and now, in particular, Iraq.

Of special utility are 3 policy leverage points discussed at length by Richardson: meeting the needs and expectations of young men, increasing police effectiveness, and prioritizing business community involvement.

Political leaders often say they 'had no choice' when implementing policies such as the US invasion of Iraq or earlier Sri Lankan government interventions, yet this is rarely true. Multiple choices are usually available, and the longer the time horizon, the greater the range of choices. Paradise Poisoned demonstrates that deadly conflict and terrorism are both predictable and preventable.

About the Author
John Richardson's writing, teaching and consulting apply systems analysis principles to the nexus of conflict, terrorism and development. Paradise Poisoned culminates nearly twenty years of work in this arena. Dr. Richardson has been visiting and writing about Sri Lanka since 1987, using the island nation's turbulent political-economic history as a lens through which to view international development issues. Earlier, he was a major contributor to the nascent field of global modeling, focusing on population-resource-environment interrelationships.

Dr. Richardson is Professor of International Development in American University's School of International Service and Director of the University's Center for Teaching Excellence. Previously he held faculty appointments in political science and systems engineering at Case Western Reserve University and visiting appointments at the University of Colombo (Sri Lanka) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Among books that he has authored, co-authored, or co-edited by are:

Partners in Development (1969)
Groping in the Dark: The First Decade of Global Modeling (1982)
Ending Hunger: An Idea Whose Time has Come (1985)
Democratization in South Asia: The First Fifty Years (1998)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 764 pages
• Publisher: International Centre for Ethnic Studies (March 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9555800944
• ISBN-13: 978-9555800945
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #384,853 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What Went Wrong in Sri Lanka?, August 9, 2005

By	nicholas onuf - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

John Richardson's *Paradise Poisoned* is far and away the most comprehensive study of civil violence in Sri Lanka ever undertaken. In its narrative sweep, mastery of detail, conceptual acuity and analytic range, it will never be surpassed. Indeed, no other study of civil violence anywhere rivals Richardson's in these several respects.

For those of us who have seen Sri Lanka from the inside, Richardson's large claim is beyond challenge: the country's descent into violence had no single overriding cause. Richardson assembled vast amounts of data (helpfully displayed in innumerable graphs and tables) on every conceivable contributing cause. His background in the analysis of dynamic systems gave him the best imaginable tools for mapping tangled developments over many decades. His conclusions are always compelling, strikingly so when he catalogs the beneficiaries of violent conflict.

One by one, the ten imperatives Richardson puts forward for preventing civil violence in developing societies may seem like common sense. His exhaustive, fully integrated study of the Sri Lankan experience massively substantiates every one of them. Taken together and taken seriously, they are represent our best chance for a better, safer world.

Nicholas Onuf
Professor Emeritus
Florida International University

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Challenging Conventional Wisdom, August 17, 2005

By	Steven Arnold - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

John Richardson's *Paradise Poisoned* is an important, timely, and groundbreaking book. The product of more than 18 years of work, it is a carefully researched account of Sri Lanka's fall from a beautiful island paradise and international development "success story", to a headline-grabbing example of a nation torn apart by terrorism and deadly civil conflict.

Drawing both on an innovative methodology and his long-standing work in the fields of international development and conflict, Professor Richardson demonstrates how Sri Lanka's tragic story clearly exposes a world-wide issue that has long been hiding in plain sight--that international development programs, conflict, and terrorism are intimately linked, and often in very negative ways. This is obviously a highly important and policy-relevant finding that is rarely discussed or analyzed in a rigorous manner--the only other book I can recall is Peter Uvin's work on Rwanda (Aiding Violence, 1998). Other important authors, like Mary Anderson (Do No Harm, 1999) offer valuable advice to practitioners on how to reduce conflict in the field, but Richardson and Uvin's more structural analyses expose how contemporary international development policies, put in place by well-meaning leaders and the international community, can be a factor that leads to deadly conflict in the first place.

The book has many lessons, but for me the most important is this profound critique of contemporary development wisdom, and Richardson's carefully documented case study makes it impossible to ignore his findings, or write them off as a simplistic superficial analysis based on preconceived conclusions. Quite the contrary, Richardson's approach is highly sophisticated, and his innovative systems methodology enables him to clarify how deadly conflict arises not from a single cause, but from a complex interaction of a number of critical factors that, acting together, help to explain the fall of Sri Lanka from apparent success to disastrous failure.

The practical policy lessons to be drawn are many, and reach well beyond the Sri Lanka case. Perhaps the most important lesson is that development policies need to be examined with an additional lens that clarifies the ways in which well-intended programs can exacerbate this complex set of factors that undo the development goals and lead to violent and persistent conflict and terrorism. Professor Richardson's useful book goes a long way in this direction by pointing out some of the most critical reference points for this new perspective. It is essential reading, both as a cautionary tale, and as an important source for anyone concerned with discovering specific ways to improve international development policy and reduce global violence.

Steven Arnold, University of Washington (formerly Director, International Development Program, American University)