Linked with Radhika Coomaraswamy – Sri Lanka.
ICES is one of the leading think tanks in the world researching and publishing on violent group conflict and related issues of governance and development. Established in 1982, the original mandate of the Centre being the study of ethnic conflict and gender issues, it is probably the first of its kind to focus attention on violent group conflict and has done pioneering work on the subject related to South Asia and many other parts of the world.
Current Projects;
Ethnic Studies Report ESR;
International conferences;
Sri Lanka database;
Contact.
About: The International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) is a world leader in the study of violent group conflict. Established in September 1982, the Centre was a pioneer in the field of conflict studies and research when the subject of conflict was not the fashionable subject for academic research and teaching that it is today. The work it has done covers South Asia and many other parts of the world which is also unusual for a think tank located in a small developing country. However, ICES also soon concluded that the study of violent group conflict needs to be studied and understood in its broader socio-economic, political context and global context. Thus the focus of the ICES soon widened to encompass a much broader research and publication agenda that extended to, among other things, sustainable development, governance and gender. The ICES vision is animated by six themes:
- Peaceful resolution of inter-group conflict
- Corruption-free democratic governance
- Sustainable and equitable development
- Social justice and fundamental human rights
- International co-operation and understanding
- Women’s role in society and development
ICES is a non-profit Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) managed by an international board of directors consisting of eminent scholars and practitioners drawn from the different branches of the social sciences and humanities. Through its existence, ICES has striven to evolve a model of historically sensitive, theoretical and empirical research on ethnicity, and related socio-economic, political and cultural process.
From its inception the ICES has had two « offices, » one in Kandy and one in Colombo. Each has its own academic personality, with special concerns and emphases. Together the two offices have succeeded in establishing the reputation of the ICES as a major international research centre that pioneered the concept of specialised study of violent group conflict. While several similar centres were established in later years in the West, ICES probably still remains the only institution of its kind in Asia, if not in the Global South. (full text).