Pillarization meant the vertical division of society into four confessional and ideological blocs. It functioned from 1917 till the turn of 60’s and 70’s. Due to it, the accommodation of the differences between all segmentsof society took place, in the sequel it succeeded in prevention of possible state’s confl icts. Its development and stability were sheltered. The collapse of this model took place through the processes of modernization and secularization, and some external factors. It was called depillarization. This process was the beginning of gradual decomposition of the pillars.
The article is concerned with the proposals for power-sharing solu-tions issued by Tamil political organisations in Sri Lanka between the years 1951 and 2008. The author explores the different solutions of-fered by each of these proposals, and analyses their influence on the political developments taking place in the country. The article brings special attention to how the discourse introduced by the Tamil pro-posals influenced the final shape of the Indo- Sri Lankan Accord of 1987 and how some of the solutions, originally recommended by Tamil associations, were implemented in the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka.
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