Categorising space: Urban‐rural or core‐periphery in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The notion of a clash between distinctive urban and rural interests does not provide a convincing explanation either of the pattern of public resource allocation in Sri Lanka or of the political conflicts which underlie these allocations. The concept of a core‐periphery continuum, centred around a densely populated urban and rural region incorporating the capital city, does however furnish a useful framework for the analysis of the politics of agricultural policy. The applicability of this framework to Sri Lanka is in large part the result of contingent historical, topographical and agro‐climatic factors, but analysis centred around this framework does illustrate the importance of certain factors of general significance to the analysis of rural‐urban politics.