Sri Lanka Foreign Service Exam flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

SAARC founding

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation was founded in 1985 in Dhaka by seven states including Sri Lanka; Afghanistan joined in 2007. Its secretariat is in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Colombo Plan

A regional intergovernmental organisation launched in 1950 in Colombo to promote socio-economic development in Asia-Pacific. Its permanent secretariat has been based in Colombo since 1981.

IMF Extended Fund Facility

A multi-year IMF lending arrangement for countries with structural balance-of-payments problems. Sri Lanka's roughly USD 3 billion EFF was approved in March 2023 after debt restructuring assurances.

Precis writing rule

Compress a passage to about one-third of its length, preserving the central argument in continuous prose, using the writer's own words, and omitting examples, repetition, and personal opinion.

Comma splice

An error joining two independent clauses with only a comma. Correct it with a full stop, semicolon, or coordinating conjunction such as 'and' or 'but'.

Reported speech backshift

When the reporting verb is past, shift the reported verb one tense back: present to past, past to past perfect, will to would. Adjust pronouns and time and place words.

Sinhala diglossia

The marked difference between formal written Sinhala and colloquial spoken Sinhala, visible in verb endings, pronouns, and vocabulary. Official documents require the formal written variety.

Tamil case system

Tamil nouns inflect for eight cases including nominative, accusative, instrumental, dative, ablative, genitive, and locative. Case markers attach as suffixes rather than as separate prepositions.

Official Languages Commission

A Sri Lankan constitutional body that monitors implementation of the official languages policy and the trilingual (Sinhala, Tamil, English) framework under the 13th Amendment arrangements.

Vienna Convention 1961

The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations codifies diplomatic immunity, mission privileges, and the inviolability of premises. It entered into force in 1964 and governs embassy conduct worldwide.

Note verbale

A formal diplomatic communication written in the third person, unsigned but usually sealed, used for routine matters between foreign ministries or missions. It differs from a signed formal note.

Pacta sunt servanda

A foundational principle of international law meaning treaties are binding on the parties and must be performed in good faith. It is codified in Article 26 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

19th Amendment

A 2015 Sri Lankan constitutional amendment that restored the two-term presidential limit, curtailed executive powers, and strengthened independent commissions including Elections, Police, and Bribery.

13th Amendment

A 1987 Sri Lankan amendment following the Indo-Lanka Accord, creating Provincial Councils and making Tamil an official language. Land and police powers remain devolved only in part.

Grama Niladhari

The lowest-level Sri Lankan public official, heading a Grama Niladhari division within a Divisional Secretariat. The role handles certificates, welfare verification, and local administration linkage.

Soulbury Constitution

The 1947 constitutional framework based on the Soulbury Commission recommendations that governed Ceylon at independence in 1948, establishing a parliamentary system with a bicameral legislature.

GDP expenditure identity

Gross domestic product equals consumption plus investment plus government spending plus net exports (exports minus imports). Real GDP uses constant prices; nominal GDP uses current prices.

GSP Plus

The EU's special preferential tariff scheme granting developing countries duty reductions on many exports, conditional on ratifying and implementing 27 international conventions on human rights, labour, and environment.

Balance of payments identity

The current account plus the capital account plus the financial account plus errors and omissions equals zero. A current account deficit must be financed by inflows or reserve drawdown.

Gini coefficient

A measure of income or consumption inequality ranging from 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (perfect inequality). Sri Lanka's figure has typically fallen in the 0.35 to 0.40 range.

Necessary versus sufficient

A necessary condition must hold for the outcome; a sufficient condition guarantees it. 'A only if B' makes B necessary; 'if A then B' makes A sufficient for B.

Straw man fallacy

Misrepresenting an opponent's argument in a weaker form and then refuting that distorted version. It weakens analytical essays because the real position remains unaddressed.

Correlation and causation

A statistical association does not establish a causal link. Confounders, reverse causation, and selection bias must be ruled out before drawing policy conclusions from observed correlations.

Sri Lanka administrative units

Sri Lanka has nine provinces, twenty-five districts, and 331 Divisional Secretariat divisions. The official capital is Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte; Colombo is the commercial capital.

Sustainable Development Goals

Seventeen global goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015 with a 2030 target date, covering poverty, health, education, climate, and institutions. They succeeded the Millennium Development Goals.

Pidurutalagala

The highest mountain in Sri Lanka at 2,524 metres, located in the central highlands near Nuwara Eliya. The Mahaweli is the country's longest river.

Summary versus precis

A summary condenses content and may follow the original order and tone; a precis is a formal third-person compression in the writer's own words, typically one-third of the original length.

Lexical cohesion

Textual linking achieved through word choice: synonymy, antonymy, repetition, collocation, and hyponymy. It complements grammatical cohesion such as reference, substitution, and ellipsis.

UNCLOS maritime zones

The 1982 Law of the Sea Convention sets a 12-nautical-mile territorial sea, 24-mile contiguous zone, and 200-mile exclusive economic zone, with continental shelf claims extending to 350 miles.

Jus cogens

Peremptory norms of international law from which no derogation is permitted, such as prohibitions on genocide, slavery, and torture. Treaties conflicting with them are void under Article 53.

Track II diplomacy

Unofficial dialogue involving academics, retired officials, and civil society aimed at building understanding and generating policy ideas. It complements formal Track I state-to-state negotiation.

Article 126 remedy

Sri Lanka's constitutional provision allowing the Supreme Court to hear fundamental rights applications. Petitioners must generally exhaust other remedies within one month of the alleged infringement.