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| Username | Post |
| Bhunte | Posted
on 19-Oct-03 04:39 AM
Has anyone read the following book by Deepak Thapa/Bandita Sijapati? If so how is it? A Kingdom Under Siege Nepals Maoist Insurgency, 1996 to 2003 by Deepak Thapa with Bandita Sijapati the printhouse, Kathmandu pp xv + 234, ISBN 99933 59 07 6 |
| ujol sherchan | Posted
on 19-Oct-03 09:36 PM
Bhunte, Yes. It is a very well researched and gripping book. It gives you an overview of the history of the Communist Party (and its splinter groups) of Nepal from its very early days ('50s). And the roles played by the likes of Mr. Singh, Mr. Lama and Mr. Pushpa Lal Shrestha in particular. The book also explores the politico-socio-economic root causes that created the climate conducive to the rise of the Maoist Insurgency...and the failure of post-democracy governments to deliver on the promises of democracy: less-inclusive government and rampant corruption, to mention just two among its many failures. It also sheds light on why the Maoists have made 'constituent assembly' a centre piece of their demand - citing a historical reason. The title may lead one to believe that this book is strictly about the history of communist party of Nepal and the Maoist Insurgency. But it is much broader than that. It is the history of Nepal in post-50s. The two authors paint on a pretty broad canvas. Good book to read if you want to make sense of the political impasse Nepal is in today. About the two authors: Deepak Thapa is ex-editor of Himal South Asia and Bandita Thapa is a Ph. D. student at Columbia University, specialising in International Economy. |
| Bhunte | Posted
on 19-Oct-03 11:09 PM
Ujowl ji, Thanks for the brief book review. It sounds interesting and i will read it when i get the book. |
| Bob Marley | Posted
on 20-Oct-03 12:33 AM
Where do you get this book? Amazon, Barnes N Nobles??? |
| cha | Posted
on 20-Oct-03 04:06 AM
Official webpage for the book is http://www.himalassociation.org/himalbooks/himalbooks_03_siege.htm If you want to buy the book you can write to kiranbthapa@yahoo.com |
| SimpleGal | Posted
on 20-Oct-03 03:43 PM
Good to hear of this book! Will definitely read it.... I think Bandita Sijapati (not Thapa) is a PhD student at Syracuse University. She did her Masters from Columbia University. Thanks for the info. on where to get the book. |
| ujol sherchan | Posted
on 20-Oct-03 10:39 PM
SimpleGal, Thanks for pointing out my errata. |
| Bhunte | Posted
on 21-Oct-03 01:23 AM
- http://www.himalassociation.org/himalbooks/himalbooks_03_siege.htm |
| Bhunte | Posted
on 13-Nov-03 07:30 PM
A book review by P.Onta on "A Kingdom Under Siege" is posted below. Sounds interesting .... A kingdom to win or spoil By PRATYOUSH ONTA - For obvious reasons, the Maoist insurgency in Nepal has drawn the attention of various types of analysts. In addition to a large repertoire of journalistic writings in Nepali we are now seeing articles, edited volumes and books by various researchers on the subject. Deepak Thapa has contributed to all of these genres of writing. Apart from his earlier articles, he edited an eclectic collection, Understanding the Maoist Movement of Nepal, published in June 2003 by Martin Chautari/CSRD. Now, collaborating with Bandita Sijapati, he has produced a 250-page book - A Kingdom under Siege: Nepal’s Maoist Insurgency, 1996 to 2003. It begins with a chapter entitled "Life and Death in the Time of War" where through some poignant writing and excerpts from the writings of others, the authors evoke the painful ethos of our contemporary moment. In the next chapter, we find both a succinct description of the successive realignments of the Communist Party of Nepal out of which the CPN (Maoist) emerged in 1995 and the political instability at the centre.This is followed by chapter three called "Understanding the Causes of the ‘People’s War’." The authors conclude that economic and social inequalities are the fundamental causes behind the rise of the Maoists in Nepal. Combined with the efficacy of organisational activism of the far left in mid-western hills under the tutelage of Mohan Bikram Singh and the ineptitude of successive Nepali Congress governments in dealing with the "initial rumblings" of the Maoists, the authors conclude that structural inequalities in the system provided the fertile grounds for Maoist "ideas to grow". Therefore Maoists "found ready support for their promises of an alternative to an economically, socially, culturally and politically flawed system that they sought to replace." Hence Thapa and Sijapati’s understanding of the Maoist rebellion falls in what experts in conflict studies would call the ‘grievance theory’ of insurgency. In other words the perception of the rebellion as a conduit to rectify existing grievances and seek justice for Nepal’s downtrodden suffuses the narrative and prevents the authors from considering some other interpretive possibilities. Subsequent two chapters are devoted to a discussion of the growth of the Maoist insurgency through the course of the State of emergency in 2002. There is first a narrative of the disarray that characterised the state at the centre as it faced a determined CPN (Maoist) and its strategy woven around its party, army and the united front. The authors also discuss the ‘six sub-phases’ (or ‘tactical stages’) of the Maoists’ plan, and the largely counter-productive 1998 police response known as Kilo Sierra Two. In Chapter five the authors discuss the second national conference (in early 2001) of CPN (Maoist) that gave rise to ‘Prachanda Path’ and the emergence of the idea of an ‘interim government’. They consider this to be an important development leading to the first round of negotiations in mid 2001. The ensuing failure and the imposition of the state of emergency deepened the country’s troubles. In these two chapters, instead of providing an argument as such, the narrative assumes the nature of a blow-by-blow account, especially useful to readers who are unfamiliar with the political trajectory of the insurgency. The final two chapters discuss the cost of the conflict and the dynamics of the last ceasefire as it could be perceived in early summer 2003 when the book was completed. Here the authors’ document ~ ~ the macroeconomic costs of the conflict and also discuss the opportunity cost of the newly acquired security orientation of the government’s expenditure. They also portray the crises of human rights in the country since late 2001. The strength of this book is that it provides a very readable account of the circumstances in which the Maoist insurgency started and grew to seize the political agenda of the kingdom. That said we must also recognise its weakness in the form of its over-commitment to the grievance model. While the strong formulation of the alternative ‘greed model’ of conflicts (in which it is postulated that civil wars are motivated by the desire to acquire wealth especially in the form of natural resources) does not apply for our case, an argument can certainly be made for its weak formulation in which the opportunity for rebellion is tied to risks associated with accessing finances (domestic and international) through the deployment of youth available in large numbers for recruitment. If postulated this way, one can certainly make the case that while the Maoist rebellion was started by a core group of ideologues and guerrillas who believed in seeking redress to social injustice, its sustenance and growth has been made possible by agencies who contributed to the reduction of risks associated with its ability to finance itself and recruit cadres. Put this way, the non-involvement of the army before 2001 forces us to examine the post-1990 Nepali state as a constellation of not only political parties who could not deliver but also a semi-constitutional monarchy with a tight hold on the use of the army as a credible state institution influencing the risk calculus of the insurgents. In addition, it would also mean revisiting the trajectory of the insurgency and asking in each of its moments questions regarding the cost-benefit calculus of various ‘stakeholders’, both domestic and international. Such a line of inquiry would have forced the authors to tell us a more compelling story of, for example, the fiasco at Holeri and the 2001 rendezvous of Prachanda with Nepali left leaders in the Indian town of Siliguri. But then these are also topics for further research, some of which is already being pursued by other analysts. |
| meamigo | Posted
on 13-Nov-03 07:33 PM
hey ujol sherchan....are you the one from stx '86? just wondering |