A Political Legacy of the British Empire International Library of Twentieth Century History

"As the British Empire receded, India and Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, preserved the 'Westminster' political system left by their colonial rulers. Both South Asian countries became independent in the late 1940s, though in widely differing styles: India fought a violent campaign of mass political activism and would become a republic, while Sri Lanka negotiated independence by a gentlemen's agreement among the indigenous elite and remained a realm. Both nations adopted the 'Westminster' political system of their colonial master, producing results and reactions that would shape each country profoundly. Harshan Kumarasingham analyses the crucial first decade of independence, assessing the events, decisions and political environment of these 'Eastminsters'. The impact of cultural conditions on the constitutional and political exercise of executive power gives an invaluable insight into how the ambiguous and flexible tenets of the Westminster system were interpreted in a local context, where the Western-educated elites were often at variance with the masses. The principles of cabinet government are explored to examine how successfully the purported checks and balances of the Westmins