The question of sharing political power with the Tamils has dominated the constitutional history of Sri Lanka during the last eight decades. This book is a study of the controversy over devolution, one of the crucial issues in Sri Lanka's current political crisis.

The author has sensitively handled the complexities of the issues involved in this major ethnic crisis. The analysis of the current situation is accompanied by an introduction to the various phases of the evolution of the problem over the last fifty years or more. This is a comprehensive study on the subject of ethnic conflict and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. The broad theoretical premises that govern the concept of devolution in an ethnically divided society have been discussed in detail.