The global spread of the Tamil diaspora has hindered the formation of formal pan-Tamil institutions. The most important national institutions for Tamils have been the governments of the states where they live, particularly the government of Tamil Nadu and the government of Sri Lanka , which have collaborated in developing technical and scientific terminology in Tamil and promoting its use since the 1950s.

Politics in Tamil Nadu is dominated by the Self-respect movement (also called the Dravidian movement), founded by E.V. Ramasami, popularly known as Periyar, to promote self-respect and rationalism, and to fight casteism and the oppression of the lowest castes. Every major political party in Tamil Nadu bases its ideology on the Self-respect Movement, and the national political parties play a very small role in Tamil politics. (see "Dravidian parties")

In श्रीलंका, Tamil politics was dominated by the federalist movements, led by the Federal Party (later the Tamil United Liberation Front), until the early 1980s. In the 1980s, the political movement for self determination in an autonomous Tamil Eelam was largely succeeded by a violent military campaign conducted by several militant groups. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which emerged as the most important force amongst these groups in the 1990s, controlled a third of Sri Lanka, and had attempted to establish its own government there.

In the 1960s, the government of Tamil Nadu held a World Tamil Conference, which has continued to meet periodically since then. In 1999, a World Tamil Confederation was established to protect and foster Tamil culture and further a sense of togetherness amongst Tamils in different countries. The Confederation has since adopted a Tamil flag and Tamil song to act as trans-national symbols for the Tamil people; the words on the flag quote the opening line of a poem by the classical poet Kanian Poongundranaar, and means ""Everyone is our kin; Everyplace is our home"".


Imperial and post-imperial periods
तमिळ भारताततले
संस्था
श्रीलंकन तमिळ