Suchergebnisse

2006 saw the final collapse of King Gyanendra's attempt to re-establish monarchical rule. The beneficiaries were the Seven-Party Alliance and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). There followed the re-establishment of Parliament, removal of sovereignty from the king, fluctuating negotiations with the Maoists, a cessation of civil war punctuated by considerable lawlessness, and a final peace agreement.

The practice of conversion—changing from one religion to another—is certainly not a modern invention, but it takes on a new and sometimes threatening significance in a modern context characterized by censuses, elections with universal suffrage, and majority rule. In the modern world separate religions have come to be defined, like ethnic groups or nations (Barth 1969), by the boundaries between them. One can only be a refugee if one flees across an international boundary; likewise, conventionally, religious change is only labeled "conversion" if it occurs across a boundary. Thus, as boundaries have become sharper between 'religions,' so the issue of conversion has grown in political significance.

Lord of the Dance: The Mani Rimdu Festival in Tibet and Nepal. Richard J. Kohn. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001. 320 pp.

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