Democratisation in the Himalayas

Democratisation in the Himalayas PDF

Author: Vibha Arora

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-02-03

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 1351997998

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Democratisation is a formidable task in the Himalayan region owing to its immense cultural heterogeneity. The process of democratisation has accentuated ethnic competition, assertion of identity, and demand for ethnic homelands to protect, safeguard, and promote political and development interests of various groups. This volume discusses competing interests; identity politics that permeates political formations, the transformations in the traditional forms of governance and their adaption to democratic institutions; the genesis and periodic eruptions of ethnic assertions, and attempts to resolve ethnic conflict. It shows how recent efforts at deepening democratic values and implementing social justice have been resisted and contested. The book argues that the play of ethnicity, the creation of political parties and interest groups, the emergence of social movements, and the voice of protest and opposition do not indicate a crisis in democracy but comprise the instruments by which the state is pushed towards reform, welfare, and inclusive politics, and is obliged to listen to the people. Rich in ethnographic research, this volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of social and political anthropology, political studies, South Asian studies, Nepal and Himalayan studies, sociology, and development studies.

Routeing Democracy in the Himalayas

Routeing Democracy in the Himalayas PDF

Author: Vibha Arora

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2020-11-29

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 1000084353

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Historically treated as an amorphous borderland and marginal to the understanding of democratic politics and governance in South Asia, Southeast Asia and northern Asia, the Himalayan region, in the last 50 years, has become an ‘active political laboratory’ for experiments in democratic structures and institutions. In turn, it has witnessed the evolution of myriad political ideologies, movements and administrative strategies to accommodate and pacify heterogeneous ethnic-national identities. Routeing Democracy in the Himalayas highlights how, through an ongoing process of democratisation, the Western liberal ideologies of democracy and decentralisation have interacted with varied indigenous politico-cultural ideas and institutions of an ethnic-nationally diverse population. It also reviews how formal democracy, regular elections, local self-governing structures, protection of the rights of minorities and indigenes, freedom of expression, development of mass media and formation of ethnic homelands — all have furthered participatory democracy, empowered the traditionally marginalised groups and ensured sustainable development to varying degrees. The book provides ethnographic and historical vistas of democracy under formation, at work, being contested and even being undermined, showing how democratisation thematically stitches the independent Himalayan nations and the Indian Himalayan states into a distinctive regional political mosaic. Combining new perspectives from comparative sociology, political anthropology and development studies, the volume will be useful for policy makers, as well as specialists, researchers and students in sociology, anthropology, area studies, development studies, and Tibet and Himalayan studies.

Dawn of Democracy in the Eastern Himalayan Kingdoms

Dawn of Democracy in the Eastern Himalayan Kingdoms PDF

Author: Awadhesh C. Sinha

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2018-10-26

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 0429685688

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This book traces the beginnings of democracy in the three Himalayan kingdoms of Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan. Charting the mobilisations and political experimentations that took place in the former buffer states under monarchies to establish democratic regimes, this book investigates their varying degrees of success, and offers a critical commentary on the consequent socio-political histories of this region. The volume sheds light on the nuances of their different geo-political contexts of the three Himalayan states, while tracing the social origins of the movements. It also undertakes a close analysis of the political participation and leadership involved to understand their achievements and limitations. A comprehensive analysis of a hitherto unexplored chapter in South Asian history, it will be of an immense interest to scholars and researchers of international relations, modern history, sociology and social anthropology, politics, South Asian studies, area studies, especially Nepal and Himalayan studies, as well as policy makers and government think tanks.

Ethnicity and Democracy in the Eastern Himalayan Borderland

Ethnicity and Democracy in the Eastern Himalayan Borderland PDF

Author: Mona Chettri

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789089648860

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This book presents a close look at the growth, success, and proliferation of ethnic politics on the peripheries of modern South Asia, built around a case study of the Nepal ethnic group that lives in the borderlands of Sikkim, Darjeeling, and east Nepal. Grounded in historical and ethnographic research, it critically examines the relationship between culture and politics in a geographical space that is home to a diverse range of ethnic identities, showing how new modes of political representation, cultural activism, and everyday politics have emerged from the region.

The Himalayan Politics: An Affront to Democracy

The Himalayan Politics: An Affront to Democracy PDF

Author: Sufi Abdul Aziz

Publisher: AMZ Marketing Hub

Published: 2023-08-14

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781916798281

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So, this book, The Himalayan Politics - an affront to Democracy, let me tell you, is not your usual run-of-the-mill political narrative. Nope! It's based on some real-life events that happened in the politically turbulent region of the Himalayas, courtesy of the colonials. Now, I'm not talking about your average politics here; we're diving into the nitty-gritty of democracy being challenged like never before. The author has done extensive research to ensure that every event and detail is backed by cold-hard facts. You see, this book isn't just a bunch of opinions thrown together; it's a well-crafted tale that unravels the complex web of power struggles, Treachery and betrayals that have traversed in the region of the highest mountains on Earth. And how Himalayan politics have been imported to the UK and used with devastating effect to steal people's mandate, leaving the courts to order new elections. Whether you're a political junkie or someone with a general interest in world affairs, this book will surely provide you with an eye-opening journey through the intriguing world of Himalayan politics - one that cannot be missed!

The Anthropology of Parliaments

The Anthropology of Parliaments PDF

Author: Emma Crewe

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-05-13

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 1000182312

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The Anthropology of Parliaments offers a fresh, comparative approach to analysing parliaments and democratic politics, drawing together rare ethnographic work by anthropologists and politics scholars from around the world. Crewe’s insights deepen our understanding of the complexity of political institutions. She reveals how elected politicians navigate relationships by forging alliances and thwarting opponents; how parliamentary buildings are constructed as sites of work, debate and the nation in miniature; and how politicians and officials engage with hierarchies, continuity and change. This book also proposes how to study parliaments through an anthropological lens while in conversation with other disciplines. The dive into ethnographies from across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Region demolishes hackneyed geo-political categories and culminates in a new comparative theory about the contradictions in everyday political work. This important book will be of interest to anyone studying parliaments but especially those in the disciplines of anthropology and sociology; politics, legal and development studies; and international relations.

The Army and Democracy

The Army and Democracy PDF

Author: Aqil Shah

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2014-04-29

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 0674728939

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In sharp contrast to neighboring India, the Muslim nation of Pakistan has been ruled by its military for over three decades. The Army and Democracy identifies steps for reforming Pakistan’s armed forces and reducing its interference in politics, and sees lessons for fragile democracies striving to bring the military under civilian control.

The Shortest History of India: From the World's Oldest Civilization to Its Largest Democracy - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History)

The Shortest History of India: From the World's Oldest Civilization to Its Largest Democracy - A Retelling for Our Times (Shortest History) PDF

Author: John Zubrzycki

Publisher: The Experiment, LLC

Published: 2023-11-07

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1615199985

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5,000 years of history—from the Bhagavad Gita to Bollywood—fill this masterful portrait of the world’s most populous nation and a rising global power. The Shortest History books deliver thousands of years of history in one riveting, fast-paced read. India—a cradle of civilization with five millennia of history, a country of immense consequence and contradiction—often defies ready understanding. What holds its people together—across its many cultures, races, languages, and creeds—and how has India evolved into the liberal democracy it is today? From the Harappan era to Muslim invasions, the Great Mughals, British rule, independence, and present-day hopes, John Zubrzycki distills India’s colossal history into a gripping true story filled with legendary lives: Alexander the Great, Akbar, Robert Clive, Tipu Sultan, Lakshmi Bai, Lord Curzon, Jinnah, and Gandhi. India’s gifts to the world include Buddhism, yoga, the concept of zero, the largest global diaspora—and its influence is only growing. Already the world’s largest democracy, in 2023, India became the most populous nation. Can India overcome its political, social, and religious tensions to be the next global superpower? As the world watches—and wonders—this Shortest History is an essential, clarifying read.

Routledge Handbook of Highland Asia

Routledge Handbook of Highland Asia PDF

Author: Jelle J.P. Wouters

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-08-09

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 1000598586

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The Routledge Handbook of Highland Asia is the first comprehensive and critical overview of the ethnographic and anthropological work in Highland Asia over the past half a century. Opening up a grand new space for critical engagement, the handbook presents Highland Asia as a world-region that cuts across the traditional divides inherited from colonial and Cold War area divisions - the Indian Subcontinent/South Asia, Southeast Asia, China/East Asia, and Central Asia. Thirty-two chapters assess the history of research, identify ethnographic trends, and evaluate a range of analytical themes that developed in particular settings of Highland Asia. They cover varied landscapes and communities, from Kyrgyzstan to India, from Bhutan to Vietnam and bring local voices and narratives relating trade and tribute, ritual and resistance, pilgrimage and prophecy, modernity and marginalization, capital and cosmos to the fore. The handbook shows that for millennia, Highland Asians have connected far-flung regions through movements of peoples, goods and ideas, and at all times have been the enactors, repositories, and mediators of world-historical processes. Taken together, the contributors and chapters subvert dominant lowland narratives by privileging primarily highland vantages that reveal Highland Asia as an ecumune and prism that refracts and generates global history, social theory, and human imagination. In the currently unfolding Asian Century, this compels us to reorient and re-envision Highland Asia, in ethnography, in theory, and in the connections between this world-region, made of hills, highlands and mountains, and a planetary context. The handbook reveals both regional commonalities and diversities, generalities and specificities, and a broad orientation to key themes in the region. An indispensable reference work, this handbook fills a significant gap in the literature and will be of interest to academics, researchers and students interested in Highland Asia, Zomia Studies, Anthropology, Comparative Politics, Conceptual History and Sociology, Southeast Asian Studies, Central Asian Studies and South Asian Studies as well as Asian Studies in general.