Critical Barriers to the Negotiation of Armed Conflict in Nepal

Critical barriers to the Negotiation of Armed Conflict in Nepal Published Year: 2004 Published by: Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies (NEFAS) & Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Editors:Ananda P. Srestha & Hari Uprety Price: Not mentioned, Pages: 136

The "Structural Crisis" that Dev Raj Dahal says in his foreword that Nepal is facing is dealt with extensively in all four papers presented at a seminar conducted by NEFAS and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) which collectively compiled composes the book under review.

M.R.Josse's opening chapter becomes a convenient and informative backgrounder to the conflict in Nepal. Bishnu Raj Upreti's paper follows with a chilling reminder of the redundancy of traditional conflict solving approaches in the Nepali conflict. Shrawan Sharma's largely theoretical portion takes up the question of facilitating negotiations in the conflict. Gunanidhi Sharma's chapter rounds up the book with the conflict's economic perspective.

In essence thus, the book is an apt introduction to the Maoist conflict in Nepal providing a rare glimpse into its actual proportions, rare because of the non-empirical standpoints that take up much intellectual exercise on this potent issue. As coverage of comments and discussions does indicate, such standpoints remain present here too.

Editor Ananda Shrestha, of course, thus meaningfully, acknowledges that the book is 'by no means the last word on what is and what should be, regarding the crisis that Nepal is facing today." Equally meaningful is his comment in the preface that "it is rather conspicuous that there seems to be no effort in understanding the conflict in the context of the nation-state and its survival, or for that matter, recommendations provided along those lines. Ideological recommendations on partisan lines abound, but the ideology ofn the nation-state is sacrificed to achieve them." It is in helping cover up this lapse perhaps that this book will perform sterling service. -SSR

Source: People's Review (25 November-1 December 2004)