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Book Review:
Course Of Compromise
German Author Dr. Thomas Meyer sees
the compromise as an ideal path of democracy
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Compromise:
The Ideal Path to Democracy
Author: Prof. Dr. Thomas Meyer,
Dortmund University, Germany
Published by Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung,
Nepal Office
Price: Undisclosed
Pages: 38
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By A CORRESPONDENT
At a time when Nepal has been passing
through a phase of political conflicts and dissensions
among political parties, a German professor Dr. Thomas
Meyer's recently published book can be a useful guide
to find out ways to settle the dissensions in society.
After the success of People's Movement
II, Nepalese political parties have been engaging in one
or other kinds of negotiations but they are yet to find
compromise solution to end the deadlock. The postponement
of the Constituent Assembly Elections in November added
more complications and political parties are now in the
process of finding new solution.
Published by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
(FES Nepal), the book is first of its kind which talks
about the importance of compromise and consensus in the
democratic political process. With the political change
of 1950, Nepal has seen many ups and downs in political
process. The political process was frequently interrupted.
It is not new to see differences of
opinion in democracy but there are ways of solving dissensions
and differences. Compromise is one of the basic ingredients
of democracy where political parties with various ideologies
and interests have to compete to promote their interests.
Democracy really means pluralism of
ideas. Thus dissensions are natural in democratic society.
"Democracy reflects the legitimacy of differences.
It begins with compromise. A sound democracy depends on
building a mechanism to balance the differences of society
and formulation of rules to shape the habits, norms and
behaviors that define the ability of citizens to govern
their lives. The civic culture of a democratic state is
shaped by the rational will of free and sovereign citizens
and exercise of their rights and duties in public and
private lives," writes Dev Raj Dahal in his foreword.
"In democracy, political parties, civil society and
interest groups involve in various exercises of bargaining,
negotiation and consensus-building to optimize the sharing
of power and express willingness to abide by the rules
of the game.'
The book review was published in Spotlight
dated 14 December 2007
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