Nation-Building and Federalism in Nepal

Description

Nation-Building and Federalism in Nepal primarily deals with the presentation and elucidation of identity-based federalism, a unique concept and a novel form of federalism. The most notable source of first-hand information was garnered through the author's involvement in constitution-making by proxy, as a member of the High-Level State Restructuring Recommendation Commission and as a facilitator of several interaction programmes conducted in dialogue form: that is, dialogues with citizens, stakeholders, members of the Constituent Assembly, office-bearers within political parties (intra-party), and leaders across the parties (inter-party). This book, therefore, discusses these issues and helps provide insights into the politics behind the parties' shifting positions on contentious issues related to the constitution at the time of its making; understand better the conflicting aspirations from and competing perceptions of restructuring the Nepali state among the people from different ethnic backgrounds; and capture the role played by intermediate agencies at a critical time of its constitution-making (2006-2015).

About the author:

Krishna Hachhethu is Professor of Political Science at Tribhuvan University, Nepal. In 2005, he was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oxford. He was also a former member of the High-Level State Restructuring Commission of Nepal formed by the country's government, and the country coordinator for the South Asia Democracy Study Network. He has extensively written and published in academic journals, and has numerous authored books and edited volumes to his credit.

Table of contents

Preface
1:Discourse: Nation-State versus State-Nation
2:History: Assimilation-produced Ethnic Inequality
3:New Horizon: Quest for Identity-based Federalism
4:A State of Two Nations?
5:Resistance and Reversion
6:Consensus Dishonoured
7:A Matter of Numbers
8:Missing Social Contract
9:Looking Back and Looking Forward
Bibliography
Index