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Klappentext This volume, the first in a new series on governance, conflict, and civic action in South Asia, focuses on the larger countries of South Asia-Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and especially Nepal. The 15 essays in this volume analyze democracy both as a process and as a value. The essays also examine in ethnographic detail the way in which democracy is actually experienced in South Asia, ranging far beyond conventional political structures to look at conflict resolution, rhetorics of foreign aid, ethnic organizations, Maoist practices of local government, Dalit resistance, and so on. Many of the processes that are analyzed in depth in the Nepalese context are shown to have their analogues in other South Asian countries. By putting Nepalese political and social processes firmly within their South Asian context, the current political crisis in Nepal is shown to be neither so radically new and different, nor so insoluble as it might appear. At the same time, the view from the peripheries of South Asia throws into relief the extent to which India has evolved away from the traditional caste-determined patron-client structures that once formed the framework of political action there. The volume is a significant contribution to the study of how local democracy actually operates in South Asia. It will be of interest to political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, and development specialists. The book…is a significant attempt to study the methodologies adopted by the South Asian countries, while implementing local democratic institutions in their respective countries. Examines in ethnographic detail the ways in which democracy is experienced and implemented across South Asia. This book provides diverse case studies of the practice of democracy in particular villages, ethnic organizations, the politically volatile Tarai region and the areas controlled by the Nepalese Maoist movement. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface Introduction David N Gellner and Krishna Hachhethu NEPAL: Obstacles to Local Leadership and Democracy in Nepal Dhruba Kumar Local Democracy and Political Parties in Nepal: A Case Study of Dhanusha District Krishna Hachhethu Distributional Coalitions in Nepal: An Essay on Democratization, Capture and (Lack of) Confidence Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka Democracy and Ethnic Organizations in Nepal David N Gellner and Mrigendra Bahadur Karki The 'Madhesi' People: Issues and Challenges of Democracy in the Nepal Tarai Dilli Ram Dahal Dispute Settlement at the Local Level: Observations and Lessons from Nepal Bishnu Raj Upreti Maoist People's Government, 2001-05: The Power in Wartime Kiyoko Ogura Local Democracy and Local Government: A Case Study of Dhikure Pokhari Village Development Committee, Kaski, Nepal Uma Nath Baral Foreign Aid, Democracy and Development: Personal Experiences Keshab Man Shakya OTHER COUNTRIES OF SOUTH ASIA: Beyond 'the Net'? Institutions, Elites and the Changing Power Structure in Rural Bangladesh David Lewis and Abul Hossain The Struggle for Local Government: Indian Democracy`s New Phase Peter Ronald Desouza Changing Caste and Local Democracy: Assertion and Identity among Dalits of Rural Punjab Surin...
