Himalayan People's War: Nepal's Maoist RebellionIndiana University Press, 2004 - 322 pages "The eruption of a violent Maoist insurgency in Nepal in the late 1990s was met with bewilderment even among many who claimed to know the country well. This book provides historical, social, and political background on the movement, and describes the ongoing struggle. The so-called "people's war" was launched in 1996 by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) to overthrow the political establishment, including the monarchy." "With striking similarities to movements such as Peru's Shining Path in the 1980s, guerrillas in Nepal have murdered government employees and supporters of other political parties and attempted to establish a Maoist regime in rural areas they control. Initially the rebels numbered a few hundred, mainly poor peasants, former soldiers, and unemployed youths drawn to the movement by poverty and disenchantment with the country's corrupt politicians, but they have since grown to more than 25,000, with training camps in Nepal's remote western region. Tactics have included attacks on police stations, banks, and power installations. The army was deployed against the Maoists for the first time in late 2001, and the indiscriminate nature of the military crackdown has been criticized strongly in many quarters. Also in 2001, Nepal's political situation came to the attention of Western news media with the highly publicized murders of members of the royal family. While there were moves toward peace talks in 2003, hopes of a rapid return to normalcy have been dashed and levels of violence are once again on the rise. This interdisciplinary volume, the first comprehensive study published in English, provides vital background for understanding these events and the most thorough analysis of the movement and its implications for Nepal's future." -- Book Jacket. |
Contents
Monarchy Democracy and Maoism in Nepal | 1 |
THE POLITICAL CONTEXT | 21 |
An Evolutionary Perspective | 38 |
The Nepali State and the Maoist Insurgency 19962001 | 58 |
THE MAOISTS AND THE PEOPLE | 79 |
Questions of Magar | 112 |
The Maoists and their Interlocutors | 136 |
Some Reflections | 152 |
PERSPECTIVES | 166 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
action activists armed attack autonomy Baburam Bhattarai Bahadur Thapa Magar Baral central Charikot civil society committee Communist Party conflict Constitution CPN Maoist CPN UML culture Delhi democracy democratic Deuba district Dolakha economic elections élites emergency established ethnic fear foreign Fourth Convention guerrillas Himal Himal Khabarpatrika ibid ideology India issue jan sarkar Janajati join the Maoists Kathmandu Post killed king Koirala liberal democracy Lok Bahadur mainstream Mao Zedong Maoist activities Maoist insurgency Maoist leaders Maoist movement Masal Maurigaun ment military mobilisation Mohan Adhikari Mohan Bikram Singh monarchy Nepali Congress Nepali Maoist Nirmal Lama organisations palace Panchayat people's government people's war political parties Prachanda prime minister programme Pushpa Lal Pyuthan Rana Rawal rebels regional revolutionary Rolpa Royal Nepalese Army Rukum Salyan schools security forces Sher Bahadur Deuba Shrestha social South Asia strategy struggle talks terror terrorists Thangmi tion village violence women