Of men and the "Ruling Ring": Destructive resilience of Sri Lanka's executive presidency

In this article, I use Tolkien’s three-volume novel The Lord of the Rings as an allegory to elucidate the extent of the hegemonic power accorded to the executive president by the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka. For this purpose, I compare the nature of the power dynamics resulting from the executive presidency with that of the ‘One Ring’, which allows its wielder the power to overpower the novel’s world. I draw parallels between their design and the effect upon those who possess them. However, the significance of delving into the nuances of this comparison between law and literature lies not only in its capacity to elucidate the current power dynamics of the executive presidency but also in its potential to challenge these power dynamics. Fantasy literature is especially important in this regard because the function of the fantasy genre is to defy convention, defy the status quo, and imagine the impossible. Therefore, I approach fantasy literature as a form of literary resistance. Focusing on law, the capacity to imagine new visions for justice plays a significant role in the development of the law. I explore what The Lord of the Rings can offer in attempts to dismantle the powers concentrated in the executive presidency. With this aim, I interpret the novel’s quest to destroy the ring as a saga of persistent resistance and apply this interpretation to the Sri Lankan attempts at abolishing and limiting the powers of the presidency so far.