Diagnosing democracy: applying Merkel’s Partial Regimes Model to post-2015 Sri Lanka

Post-war Sri Lanka, in the last decade, has witnessed significant transformation in its political landscape, where its democratic norms have been sporadically strengthened and yet undermined by governments of liberal or autocratic tendencies. Constitutional reforms, both progressive and inconsistent, alongside cycles of civil mobilisation and/or state repression have further influenced the trajectory of the country’s democracy. This study applies the institutional framework of Five Partial Regimes propounded by Wolfgang Merkel to understand the degree of democratic backsliding as well as the positive impact of constructive reforms in Sri Lanka. Drawing on triangulated empirical evidence, combining documentary analysis, secondary scholarship, and quantitative indicators, the findings show entrenched institutional weakness that led to the erosion of constitutional values, systematic violation of fundamental rights, hybrid civil-military governance and gradual but measurable decline in the quality of democratic governance in the country.