Alan Keenan Project Director, Sri Lanka London, UK Please submit all media inquiries to akeenan@crisisgroup.org or call +32 (0) 2 536 00 71 Crisis Group Role Alan Keenan is Crisis Group's Sri Lanka Senior Analyst based in London. He coordinates and contributes to the organisation's research, publications and advocacy on Sri Lanka. Alan has lived and worked in Sri Lanka for extended periods since first visiting in February 2000. He has a PhD in political theory and has taught at various US colleges and universities before joining Crisis Group in 2006. Areas of Expertise Sri Lankan politics Human rights and peacebuilding Transitional justice Democratisation Professional Background Visiting Scholar, University of Pennsylvania's Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict (2005-2006) Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Peace and Conflict Studies, Bryn Mawr College (2003-2005) Consultant, Programme on Human Rights and Conflict, Law and Society Trust, Colombo, Sri Lanka (2002-2004) Visiting Fellow at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo, Sri Lanka (2000-2003) Postdoctoral Fellow, Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict, University of Pennsylvania (1999-2002) Taught political, legal, and social theory in the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies at Harvard University (1996-1999) and at the Universities of California at Berkeley and Santa Cruz (1992-1996) PhD, Political Theory, John Hopkins University (1995) Select Publications “‘Building the Conflict Back Better’: The Politics of Tsunami Relief and Reconstruction in Sri Lanka”, in Dennis B. McGilvray and Michele R. Gamburd eds., Tsunami Recovery in Sri Lanka: Ethnic and Regional Dimensions (New York: Routledge, 2010) “The Temptations of Evenhandedness: On the Politics of Human Rights and Peace Advocacy in Sri Lanka,” in Michel Feher, ed., Non Governmental Politics (New York: Zone Books, 2007) "Building a Democratic Middle-Ground: Professional Civil Society and the Politics of Human Rights in Sri Lanka's Peace Process", in Jeff Helsing and Julie Mertus (eds.), Human Rights and Conflict: New Actors, Strategies and Ethical Dilemmas (Washington, DC, 2006) "No Peace, No War: Have International Donors Failed Sri Lanka's Most Vulnerable?",Boston Review, Vol 30, No 3, Summer 2005 "Making Sense of Bindunuwewa: From Massacre to Acquittals", Law and Society Trust Review, Vol 15, No 212, June 2005 "Human Rights and Sacred Cows: Framing Violence, Disappearing Struggles", with Vasuki Nesiah, in Neve Gordon (ed.), From the Margins of Globalization: Critical Perspectives on Human Rights (New York, 2004) "Critical Engagement or Constructive Engagement? Sri Lankan Civil Society at the Crossroads of Politics and Principle", Lines Magazine, Vol 3, No 1, May 2004 Democracy in Question: Democratic Openness in a Time of Political Closure (Stanford, 2003) Working on a manuscript entitled "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: The Politics of Human Rights and Peacebuilding in Sri Lanka" Languages English (native) French (fluent/conversant) Sinhala (conversant) In The News 25 Apr 2019 The president has tried to weaken [Sri Lanka's Prime Minister] in many ways, including taking the police under his control. So it's entirely possible that the police wouldn't share information with ministers not aligned with the president. AFP Alan Keenan Project Director, Sri Lanka 23 Apr 2019 What these [Sri Lankan] bombings potentially do is take it from inertia and political infighting and rudderlessness to a real fear of instability. Fortune Alan Keenan Project Director, Sri Lanka 24 Jun 2018 It is particularly damaging that the reasons the U.S. Government gave for leaving the Human Rights Council – for being hypocritical and biased, echo so closely criticisms that the previous Sri Lankan Government and many Lankan politicians in opposition and in the current Government have made about the Council’s engagement with and resolutions on Sri Lanka. The U.S. withdrawal will have lasting damage and will strengthen governments and politicians across the globe who prefer to be left to their own devices, even when this involves violating the fundamental rights of their own citizens. Sunday Observer Alan Keenan Project Director, Sri Lanka 8 Mar 2018 There is good reason to believe [the Sinhala Buddhists attacks in Sri Lanka] are partly designed to provoke a Muslim response, which would then justify more violence against Muslims. Al Jazeera Alan Keenan Project Director, Sri Lanka 6 Mar 2018 Many Sinhalese and Buddhists have [the sense] that Sri Lanka [is a] Sinhala and Buddhist island, and [that] other communities are here on the sufferance of the majority. The Guardian Alan Keenan Project Director, Sri Lanka 18 Feb 2018 The [Sri Lankan] government will need to figure out how to come together. They need to go back to the drawing board and return to their fundamental principles and start to deliver. CNN Alan Keenan Project Director, Sri Lanka Latest Updates Commentary / Asia 13 November 2019 Sri Lanka Election Sparks Fear of Return to Violent Past Sri Lanka’s powerful Rajapaksa family appears to be making a political comeback, and presidential front runner Gotabaya Rajapaksa has a troubled, violent history with Tamils and Muslims. These groups and others worry Gotobaya’s election will leave them more vulnerable, and threatens fragile democratic progress after decades of war. Our Journeys / Asia 17 May 2019 Picturing Sri Lanka’s Undead War Ten years after the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, Crisis Group’s Sri Lanka Project Director Alan Keenan and Photographer Julie David de Lossy travelled 1,500km through ex-combat zones. They found a population finding ways to cope with their traumatic experiences and an extraordinary array of monuments to the war. Commentary / Asia 23 April 2019 Sri Lanka’s Easter Bombings: Peaceful Coexistence Under Attack The lethal Easter bombings in Sri Lanka have stunned a country still recovering from decades of internal war. Political and religious leaders alike should reject the rhetoric of collective blame and reaffirm the island’s strained but living tradition of intercommunal amity. Commentary / Asia 7 March 2018 Buddhist Militancy Rises Again in Sri Lanka An upsurge of attacks against Muslims by Sinhala Buddhist militants in Sri Lanka has raised fears of a new round of communal violence. In this Q&A, Crisis Group’s Sri Lanka Senior Analyst Alan Keenan says the government needs to act urgently to prevent the violence from spinning out of control, by enforcing laws against hate speech and arresting and prosecuting those involved in organising the violence. Also available in සිංහල Op-Ed / Asia 30 January 2017 Sri Lanka’s Transition to Nowhere The bloom is off two years of hope that the rule of law can be restored for all and that a 60-year failure to grant Tamils a fair share of power, in the Sinhala majority island, can be rectified. Originally published in The Diplomat Magazine Load more