‘Public participation in governance keeps corruption at bay and spurs economic growth’: Former President Kumaratunga

BALPP Chairperson former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga

BALPP Executive Director Tara de Mel

Sciences Po South Asia Program Co-Director Alexandre Mariani -Pix by Lasantha Kumara

• A collaboration between Sciences Po in France and BALPP, 2025 Scales of Governance Conference deliberates on South Asian governance challenges
• Asserts governance not about systems alone but about trust
• Two-day conference envisioned to be stepping stone in building regional network of emerging public leaders of accountability

By Randima Attygalle

Signalling the urgent need for transformational leadership in South Asia that is accountable and courageous to face challenges and overcome them, former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga urged public participation in governance to keep corruption at bay and boost economic growth. The former President made these remarks at the inauguration of the 2025 Scales of Governance Conference at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) on Tuesday.

A collaboration between Sciences Po in France and the Bandaranaike Academy for Leadership and Public Policy (BALPP), the two-day conference, which concluded yesterday, deliberated on leadership and governance challenges in South Asia. The event brought together scholars and researchers from the region and France, who pondered on the three broad themes of ‘Processes of (De) Democratisation  in South Asia,’ ‘Federalism and Variants of  Decentralisation,’ and ‘Strengthening Urban and Local Bodies.’

The Bandaranaike Academy for Leadership and Public Policy is Sri Lanka’s first institute dedicated to leadership and public policy education. Its Chairperson and an illustrious alumna of Sciences Po which is France’s leading university in social sciences, President Kumaratunga who is credited for Sciences Po-BALPP collaboration, further noted that the event is of “singular importance”, forging a dialogue on governance in South Asia which will pave the way to a constructive and critical conversation about political power and accountability, prioritising active public participation in government through innovative structures and systems. “It also exemplifies our commitment to knowledge and exchange and capacity building through effective global partnerships. The Sciences Po-BALPP collaboration is a meeting of traditions and visions. We at BALPP do our maximum to ensure that this partnership yields long term cooperation, research, training and academic exchange as well as innovation.”

Recollecting her days at Sciences Po, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies, Kumaratunga applauded the prestigious seat of learning for producing not only top French leaders but beyond, in several parts of the world including some of the top brass at international institutes such as the IMF. Noting that the South Asian region is one of the “most vibrant democracies and at the same time most authoritarian regimes,” challenged with establishing good governance, Kumaratunga validated the relevance of the conference. “Scales of Governance is timely and also multi-dimensional as it sets out to explore government at diverse levels – local, regional and global,” said the former President who went onto note that complex challenges in the region are compounded by climate change, negative effect of social media, misinformation, institutional fragility and rampant corruption.

Applauding BALPP’s Chair for taking the initiative to mark Sciences Po’s footprint in the region, Sciences Po South Asia Program’s Co-Director Alexandre Mariani underscored the importance of promoting regional studies and collaboration.

BALPP Executive Director Dr. Tara de Mel in her welcome address, remarked that Scales of Governance takes shape in a context “marked by questions of power and legitimacy, playing out across local, national and regional scales.” Validating that their longstanding tradition of excellence in political science and public policy and their openness to regional collaboration make Sciences Po a “natural and deeply valued partner for BALPP”, its Executive Director reiterated that the collaboration is more than an institutional alliance, but a “shared belief in the power of public leadership, shaped by critical thinking, ethical grounding and global awareness.”

Remarking that the conference was taking wings in Colombo, a meaningful place, De Mel went onto remark that it is a city that has been a “crucible of democratic debate, reform, and reinvention for over a century.” She went onto note that from universal suffrage to decentralization experiments, Colombo has “witnessed governance being reimagined- sometimes in moments of deep crisis, sometimes in courageous hope.”

Sharing BALPP’s belief that governance is not a static structure but a dynamic process of negotiation – between the state and citizen, between layers of authority and between inherited norms and emerging challenges, De Mel resonated that the conference stands out particularly because it refuses to treat governance as a monolith. “Instead we are inviting a serious interrogation of scale: what does it mean to govern at the village level, at the city level, at the level of a federal province or through regional cooperation frameworks like SAARC or BIMSTEC?”

Remarking that the collaboration with Sciences Po offers BALPP to move beyond academic exchange to co-creation of knowledge, case studies and comparative insights which are regionally rooted but globally relevant, the scholar further noted that an extended collaboration cemented by joint research fellowships, student exchanges and a regional network of emerging public leaders committed to shared learning and mutual accountability is envisioned. Reverberating a timely message that governance is not about systems alone but about trust, De Mel reiterated that trust, once broken is hard to rebuild but when nurtured it become the most enduring infrastructure of all.