Sri Lanka's new political ideology

 I have been trying to understand the ideology of the new regime and can make no sense of it. I have tried to observe the actions (much more important than statements) but since many of them are situational-reacting to various issues it is a little hard to discern any longer term philosophy from short-term reactions. Exchange controls for example originated in a short-term fix to a balance of payments crisis (itself the result of profligate money printing to cover a deficit which resulted from pre-election giveaways) but now seem to be evolving into a new policy of industrialisation.

Despite the various contradictory statements at the core there seems to be an ideal of “self-reliance” which share parallels to the ideology of Juche in North Korea.

"The initial juche ideal of “self-reliance” centered on three elements: ideological autonomy, economic self-sufficiency, and military independence from imperial influence.

Domestically, juche served to connect Kim Il Sung and the nascent North Korean state to ideas that would resonate with ordinary Koreans. It paired the Marxist language of the country’s communist patrons with traditional Korean nationalism, arguing that South Korea was not a legitimate government because it was the tool of imperialist-capitalist foreign powers like the United States.

It also developed a doctrine of Korean racial purity, drawing on historically Korean beliefs and language used by Japanese imperialists, to argue against opening up to the global economy. Even today, North Koreans are still taught that the first humans emerged there, and that part of the reason they’re superior to other countries is that they’ve preserved their purity while others have become mongrels."

The core ideas are very similar to those that seems prevalent here. There are no overt references to Marxism although an increased role for the state seems evident. The nationalism is also of a different flavour, based on resurrecting an ancient past. 

An obsession with personalities however is another common denominator.

 "...juche modified a traditional Confucian doctrine — that human beings can transform the world if they possess the correct mindset — to explain why Kim Il Sung deserved the Korean people’s respect. Juche holds that the only the possessor of truly correct consciousness is the “suryong” (leader) of North Korea. Kim was so uniquely gifted, so incredibly accomplished, that the only way to make one’s life better was to align your own will with that of the suryong’s.

Human beings don’t need God. They now have the Kim family,” as Don Baker, a scholar of Korean philosophy at the University of British Columbia, summarizes it"

The philosophy in N. Korea has been developing since the 1950's so it has evolved into something much more complex than that of Sri Lanka but they do seem to share some common roots.