For the past two years, Sri Lanka has been undergoing a democratic transition. On January 8, 2015, the regime led by Mahinda Rajapaksa was defeated by a diverse coalition made up of economic liberals, disaffected rural voters, and marginalized ethnic groups. The Rajapaksa regime militarily defeated the Tamil Tigers in the island’s north and the east of the country in 2009 after a decades-long civil war.

Afterwards, the regime further embraced Sinhala nationalism and suppressed a political solution based on devolving government powers to Tamil and Muslim areas. The current bipartisan government led by the United National Party (UNP) and a section of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) claimed to rescue the country from the Rajapaksa regime’s corruption and increasingly authoritarian tendencies.

Unfortunately, the dominant partner of the coalition, the UNP, which spent ten years prior in the opposition, has not changed its neoliberal identity. It is eager to pursue a more aggressive agenda for “economic reform.” It says its proposed policies, from greater trade liberalization to budget cuts to social welfare, are necessary because the country is facing a debt crisis caused by the previous regime’s accumulation of loans for mega infrastructure projects. Its most recent indication that it will give China majority control over a major port in the south of the island, for example, has sparked massive protests, indicating a likely path of resistance ahead.