Future tense and Nepali women

By SANGITA RAYAMAJHI 

A session was set aside entirely for women under the rubric Women in Nepali Democracy, at the Social Science Baha Seminar on 26 April, 2003 at the International Convention Centre, Baneswor, Kathmandu. It was not difficult to understand why that particular session was created at a social science study seminar of that magnitude that was the first of its kind in my experience, entirely organised by any Nepali social organisation. Broadly speaking, in the Social Science Seminar the people who were asked to write and comment on the papers presented there were supposed to generate a discourse that would stand on its own as a gender discourse to be presented along with other social and cultural issues. But then why was it so exclusively gender centric? The session was to be ruled by well known figures in the Women’s Movement who could be completely relied upon to present discourses that could have the value of dialogue with other forms of discourses presented at the seminar.

On the dais were seated personalities whose abilities no one should question because they are well known activists, noted personalities who have been fighting a battle for women’s cause, especially the women lawyers present there and women NGO organisers. But for the same reason, the role they were given at this social science seminar was based upon the presupposition that they would produce women’s social science discourses. By social science discourse I mean, producing comprehensive papers on the subject of women’s creativity, their suppression as reflected in the matrix of cultural discourses, women’s linguistic uses and marginalisation, and the very questions that anybody could raise regarding women’s roles in the social activity.

Since these women are always used to speaking the same language everywhere at all seminars out of, of course, the need of the country and the society, how could they meet the above kind of expectations? I am not in any way underestimating the public speaking power of these personalities. They are seasoned lawyers and activists who have many times succeeded in putting leverage on the Parliament to pass certain Bills which has not been possible for others. But in the Social Science Seminar once they were seated exclusively as women, well-known for their rhetoric and arguments, they had no option but to feel comfortable on the dais and read the selfsame old pragmatic arguments. They had to repeat and they did, and the same gentlemen who use sarcastic language about women at every seminar did repeat themselves too. This session of exclusion-I mean exclusively for women, was thus a session of grand repetitions from all parties, the speakers and the male voyeurs alike. It was a very unproductive session.

The main subject was related to law. The function of the legal discourses is very important in our society, and we all know why. But that morning’s session-the context, the environment, was not suitable for those strong women. Seira Tamang is a feminist activist who has written much feminist discourses, which many of us have savoured with relish. But that morning she was a different speaker, little tired and with very little to deliver as she herself did admit. Sapana Malla’s legal discourse with all the statistics was wonderful. She had so much to say about the legal aspects concerning women but very little of what people had not heard from her earlier on. Shanta Thapaliya, the veteran lawyer, did have a presentation ready, but that fine morning she repeated the expression as has been customary for her to use. She said the fourth national agenda in the government Maoist talk should be women. Since the first three agendas being peace, security, constitutional amendments interim government, one would want to ask, why would the exclusion of women arise here? Cannot the discourses on the first three agendas be inclusive of women too? Why is she voicing the problem of the exclusion of Nepali women at such point of discourse? Well, understandably because wherever women’s inclusions are considered, either in politics, or peace talks or policy making, women have always been let down, promises have always failed them. Perhaps that was at the back of Shanta didi’s mind.

Now let me turn to the men on the dais that morning. Male contributions to women’s scholarship has always been significant in Nepal. There are excellent male scholars who know feminist scholarship so well. But Krishna Bhattachan with his own agenda of socio-cultural discourse and his own range of studies, once again put women’s issues into the ethno-socio-political discourse. However, he did make some interesting observations regarding the complexity of the process of victimization of women across the ethno-linguistic spectrum of the society. He did talk about women of certain ethno-cultural backgrounds being twice victimized, others three times and still others four times and so on. But his equation between Brahminic society and women’s privileges is far from correct because Brahminic women are the least liberated as compared to many ethnic group women. Such generalizations are a result of putting women’s studies into the ethno-political matrix as he did that morning. The apology for women’s inclusion in Nepali Democracy can easily get lost in the maze of generalized ethno-cultural information.

The most inappropriate selection to talk about women’s issues that morning was Tika Bhattarai. He was not a proper choice. His witticism was cynical, he talked about the feminist face, whatever that meant to him. He talked about gender issues that prevail so much because such discourses and programmes are funded. It seemed with just the foggy ideas he was not able to grapple with the main issues and was throwing them out to the audience. Such discourses whatever they may contain, have neither any transparency nor any relevance to the question of social science.

The most surprising and disheartening aspect of the session came from the audience. The male-centric, patronizing, patriarchal questions poured forth in lengthy manner (for the exception of a couple of women) which tended to obfuscate the already very dimly perceived women’s issues in the society. Among the many suggestions, they were either very patronizing or very ignorant of women’s issues themselves. The main reason for this was the result of a fixed hegemonic male psyche, and also because there was no paper presented which could lend a certain track to the discussions. The moderator Indira Shrestha’s desperate attempt to bring the discussion to track was a fiasco because the Social Science Baha Seminar could not find a cogently and carefully written paper on women’s issues that morning.

The reason why I have said, "future tense and Nepali women"? is that in every seminar women sound more futuristic then men, because women do not clearly see a future for them here in Nepal. They continue to hope, give a chance, go on rubbing the question of futurity, hoping that in future something will be done for women. In the Social Science Baha too, all the discourses rode on the tide of futurity- ‘let us see what will happen’, they all said. There was no affirmative answer, no solutions sought or ideas given out; just the raw scenario of women’s issues seen through the legal lens and otherwise dominated it all. That morning the personalities on the dais left everything to the future.

An aphoristic line occurs in poet PB Shelley’s poem "The West Wind" : "If winter comes can Spring be far behind?" If women’s future is all geared towards the coming Spring, are women at the moment so sure about the spring coming?

My last question is, why did not the organisers give women scholars topics like politics, linguistics, history or literature to be presented in between sessions, and why did they have to create this exclusive Satyanarayan Puja for women to perform in this seminar the focuses of which was the exclusion/inclusion problem?

Our changing aims in life

By PRABIN PAUDEL

As a child I still remember my desire to become a pilot when I grow up. So are the desires of most of the existing children. Ask them, "What would you like to become as a grown up human being?" And don’t be surprised to hear "pilot" as most of their responses. Environment largely influences the thinking capacity of the children where they are brought up. No doubt sky is open to every one and the flying creatures like birds with wings accelerating in a straight line with a thundering sound leaves the staunchest impact in the fragile brain of any child.

As we climb the ladder—forty-five degree with time on the x-axis and age on the y-axis—we can see the goal of our life discretely changing. Once a child attends a kindergarten school—which then becomes her second home—and as the relationship with the teacher becomes more intimate, she obviously wants to emulate the same profession in her own life. In this epoch of hi-fi technology, televisions and computers have largely influenced children. This must be one of the reasons that Indian kids are shifting from their dreams of becoming a pilot to software engineer, computer engineer, and the like. Ironically, only few will achieve success as in other cases.

Our—Nepalis—children’s dreams are very limited while they grow-up, at least till they are 19 when they are dependent on their parents. Within that time perhaps only few of us have dreams of becoming a rock star, a fashion designer, a mountaineer, or a social activist. Thanks to our orthodox society that exert a huge pressure to become a doctor or engineer, as if a doctor or an engineer rules this world and others are all aliens. I deem that one of the reasons that the psyche of our younger generations are largely ruled by disillusion and frustration is the countable dream that they were forced to dream of. Have they been allowed to think on their own—about the profession they like to choose—they could have led their life far better and cheerfully

One strong factor that may help to speculate the ambition of any child is the profession that their family member themselves have opted. A doctor-father conceivably topped the list of those who exercise the most pressure to ensure that their sons and daughters also followed in his footsteps. After all considering the money and fame that doctors are entitled to amass, no doctor-father would like to see his progeny bereft of what was simply endowed with. But it is also the point of greatest concern that none of the politicians or policemen would like to see their children becoming their ilk in spite of the money and fame most of them are able to take hold of. Let them think themselves.

Whatever be the case it is a matter of utmost importance that children are given a complete freedom to choose their dream to be "someone" in their life. It does not only mean that parents become indifferent to their decision but they should support them—both morally and financially—to ensure that they achieve their dream. Otherwise the repercussions in the later part of their children’s life could be very detrimental which may lead to complete catastrophe. It is not a bad sign for a person to change his aim until he can decide the best one for him confidently. However, the earlier it happens the better it is. What’s wrong if Salman Rushdie is inspired more to become a Computer Scientist than Bill Gates!

Epidemic economy and realistic diplomacy

By ADITYA BARAL 

Wars and SARS are the two epidemics gripping the nations. War has been controllable to some extent but SARS fatally is sweeping human lives to an unimaginable extent. But, both are tantamount to fatal danger. But whether it is SARS or wars, they have become a part and parcel of our life cycle. Now time has come to develop a home-grown strategy to live in perpetual apprehension of man-made or natural epidemic at the backdrop. Impoverished nations have much to learn and cope with the menace to run the daily chores as a new lesson to live in this world of turbulence.

Amidst these enormous external threats, we have a huge amount of domestic threats parallel to War or SARS. Political, economical, social, environmental or ethnical issues are heating up. Amongst the listed issues, the economic ones are worth deliberating.

Economy dictates politics of today. And, politics tramples social and ethnical issues. Environmental and other related issues have become the subject of pass time purpose. If we refer to the economy of the US and other opulent countries of the West, political agendas (without economic) rarely hit the headlines. Huge chunk of money invested for their precision armaments have not otherwise shaken their domestic supplies or the economy at large. Billions of rupees used for the destruction of Iraq or to dethrone the regime of Iraq could never destabilise their economy. One can easily imagine the power of varied resources in consonance to the existing politics. This amply proves that the strong economy has the inherent quality of stabilisation or lubrication required for the smooth functioning of politics.

However, in poorer countries, the situation is in absolute contrary. Politics being the majority’s accessibility unknowingly tramples all parallel thriving sectors too. If we cite Nepal’s case in retrospection, initial period of post liberalisation (1990) era was showing immense positive trends by virtue of stiff imposition of rules and regulations directed towards wannabe free economy. As a consequence, lots of white elephant turned Public Sector Units (PSU) were privatised and many more government’s liabilities were recommended for gradual privatisation. The way they were run in cottage scale fashion for long time was later realised for their entity transformation, when politics reached on plateau. Despite few of the privatisation of the PSU smacked off the smell of corruption while disposing them off in the hands of private parties, chunk of them could not prove themselves efficient even after handing them over in proper hands of private entrepreneurs. But again, speculation of corruption in transition was cause-effect of too much indulgence of politics. In spite of all the demerits, the courage of then Government in expediting the process of transition should deserve kudos because non-of the PSU henceforth have been handed over since then.

Economic growth has always been impeded by the massive extension of political tentacles not only now but dates back to Nepal’s history. It is only a recent phenomenon, that once after politics reaching to the debate saturation point, people have realised the importance of economy in reinforcing all other sectors including politics. As part of this exercise, lots of committees and commissions some in ad hoc and some on permanent basis have come and gone. In this respect, Economic Diplomacy Cell had also been established at Foreign Ministry for activating the entire spectrum of national importance. As a preliminary exercise, the said Ministry initiated the task of orienting the newly appointed Royal Nepalese Ambassadors in the main thrust areas of Nepal’s vested interest. The orientation basically used to focus on economic activity related with nation’s competitive advantage spheres like carpets, readymade garments, tourism, herbal and other products of international interest. Down the line, when politics again intervened to crack the egg cell, past endeavours have turned futile.

Despite the strong guidelines or direction of the Ministry to Nepal’s ambassadors, very few have paid heed to the national concerns. Maybe in most of the cases, resources are not sufficient to replicate the concept oriented to them. In the absence of all these trivial shortcomings, lack of proper guidelines to gauge their tenure, the nation’s emissary comprehends their nomination as vocational reward. Greatly missing accountability syndrome during their deputation nullifies all the pre-exercise and brainstorming of the so-called economic diplomacy at the home front.

Presumably, now, the time has come to garner the economically sensible products for its effective harnessing and accordingly marketing it in the international marketplace. Missing proper coherence and lack of pseudo perception of accountability would lead us nowhere in this cutting edge technological era. We have already lost the product advantage in our exportable commodities. Even our natural endowments are proving liability more than assets. Opportunity advantage of them has receded to near obsolete. New discoveries are forcing these products’s market relevance at bay. Consumers are becoming choosy and more demanding. The proliferation of products is surpassing the demand. Hence, the consumers of today expect value-added products or services in every sphere. Hence the same old parroting of economic diplomacy orientation has already lost its essence in present juncture.

However, the way international crisis is hovering in consonance to gigantic domestic problems, a new approach and thought exercise is required to place oneself in advantageous niche area. Pro-active promotion with fragrance full packaging is the dire need-marketing component required establishing Nepal or Nepal’s product. Government should exemplify the zeal and zest mitigating the challenges with proper framework formulation and let the private sectors act to turn the comparative advantage to our favour. Then only, we can presume our diplomacy is taking the contemporary course of survival.

Punctuating Druk regime

PURAN P BISTA

Last April, the Druk regime made a statement on the death of Shabdrung Jigme Nawang Namgyal, saying that Bhutan’s lama was suffering from cancer which ultimately claimed his life. The Druk regime further said that he was an ordinary lama living in India and Thimpu knew nothing about him beyond that. Thimpu made the statement as if the four- centuries old Shabdrung institution did not exist though the Wangchuck dynasty has tried put an end to the institution since December 1907. The Shabdrung breathed his last at Christian Medical College in Vallore on April 5, 2003. Bhutan’s Dalai Lama was alleged to have been poisoned by the Druk regime at Malbazar in North Bengal.

Bhutan was a group of feudal units run by few feudal warlords. It is still not different from what it was during the 16th century when the first Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal established the theocratic state after he fled from Tibet. It took for the first Shabdrung over forty years to unite the small feudal units in order to introduce a system of Dharma raja and Deb raja. The former monitored the monastic establishment, while the latter looked after the general administration of state, foreign affairs and economic matters. It was said that the first Dharma raja continued to rule Bhutan even after 51 years of his death.

The Bhutanese monks believe in reincarnation of Shabdrung. A few sects began to fight among themselves when they claimed the body, heart and mind of re-incarnated Lama separately. The conflict among these different sects had virtually crippled the general administration of Bhutan until British India interfered in Bhutanese politics and helped the Wangchuck dynasty to eliminate the religious head (Dharma raja) in 1907. This is the brief historical account of Bhutan on how the first Druk dictator seized power.

Though the Druk regime managed to overthrow the Shabdrung institution, the war for power between the Wangchuck dynasty and the Shabdrung institution did not come to an end in 1907. And it is also clear that this war is not going to end with the death of every reincarnated Shabdrung.

The first reincarnated Shabdrung of post-1907 incident met Mahatma Gandhi in 1932 at Sagarmati Ashram in Gujarat. The first king of Bhutan, due to the fear of Shabdrung institution, located the Shabdrung and assassinated him at Talo monastery in the late 30s. The Talo monastery was the first institution established by the Shabdrung. Similarly, the second reincarnated Shabdrung, who was less than six-year-old, was also butchered in Tashing Gang district by Babu Karchung at the behest of the second king of Bhutan. Babu Karchung was a henchman of the Wangchuck dynasty. This brief account also explains how the Druk dynasty has eliminated the Shabdrung, one after another, since it seized power in 1907.

Shabdrung Jigme Nawang Namgyal, who died at Vallore last month, was born in a poor family at Tashi Gang in eastern Bhutan. His parents took him to Bamdilla in India’s state of Arunachal Pradesh that borders Bhutan. In the wake of the 1962 Indo-China war , Delhi feared that China might capture Bhutan’s Dalai Lama and use him as a political tool in future when China invaded Arunachal Pradesh. Nari Rastumji, the political advisor for northeast India, took the Shabdrung to Shillong, the headquarters of India’s eastern command. But the Lama could not stay there for long as Shillong was predominantly a Christian city. So, Delhi took the Lama again to Chhopema in Himachal Pradesh, where he attended western education and learnt Buddhism under the Dalai Lama.

In 1986, the Shabdrung was invited to inaugurate the Lakhang monastery in Dzongda of Samdrupzonker district. Senior government officials and monks attended Lakhang’s inaugural ceremony. This was the first attempt made by the Bhutanese Shabdrung followers to show their strength that continues to pose a threat to the Druk regime. The Shabdrung spent three days at Lakhang and had a discussion with his fellow junior lamas. This was also the first political move made by the Shabdrung. But King Wangchuck sent his personal guards to capture him. Shabdrung escaped from Bhutan but his followers, who attended the inaugural ceremony, were detained by the Druk regime.

After his return from Bhutan, the Shabdrung set up an office called Druk expedition in Delhi. A Lhotshampa managed the office, which later became a contact point of those who respected the Shabdrung institution in Bhutan. Christopher Strawn, a renowned American scholar who interviewed him, writes: "I am also a refugee but we fight different battles. The refugees are fighting for their rights, while I am fighting for the chair."

Meanwhile, Rajiv Gandhi, before he was assassinated by the Tamil rebels, had arranged a meeting between the Shabdrung and King Jigme Singhe Wangchuck at Delhi’s Ashoka Hotel in 1992. In the meeting, the Shabdrung had warned the King, saying: "You run the country at the cost of people’s rights, which is not the right way of doing in our religion. The people will poison you". This was the last meeting between the king and the Shabdrung. The Shabdrung has set up a monastery in Sakyong near Kalimpong that still poses a threat to the Druk regime. It was reported that even members of royal family had paid a visit to the Shabdrung. Last December, the Shabdrung was organizing a meeting at Malbazar before he was allegedly poisoned. Unfortunately, instead of poisoning the Druk regime by the Bhutanese people, the Druk oligarchy poisoned the Shabdrung that gave a big blow to the democratic movement in Bhutan. No matter how seriously the Druk regime has taken Shabdrung’s death, it is not going to kill the Shabdrung institution so easily as the regime thinks and plans to eliminate every reincarnated Shabdrung.

To ‘move’ or not to ‘move’?

Bikash Sangraula

During a lousy tea-time conversation, a grumpy fellow threw a challenge to all those present to define movement, a word that has become very common among politicians and newspaper-wallahs these days. After much brainstorming and brain-earthquaking, they arrived at a unanimous definition: movement is all about moving.

"Movement is all about moving, as, by nature, it is against the status quo," reasoned the unintelligent chaps quite intelligently. Since things must move in order to prove that there is still life in them, movements are welcome to all those who love life, they further argued. Of course, there are those who love death, which is why it is never easy for movements to move as smoothly as we would have liked, they continued. Taking this curious line of argument, they attempted to appraise whether the newly declared ‘movement’ fitted, by any chance, in their rather queer definition or not.

On Sunday, May 4, five parties ‘moved’ in separate rallies, towards the open theatre in Ratnapark. Before arriving there, they had gathered at five different points around the theatre, so that the ‘movement’ would be easier. Spectators aplenty had gathered at the theatre hours ahead of their arrival, so as to see how the ‘movement’ would look like.

It was fine until then. However, the spectacle soon became static after the five parties gathered at the theatre premises and focussed their attention on the heroes of the day, namely Girija Prasad Koirala, Madhav Kumar Nepal, Narayan Man Bijukcche, Amik Sherchan and Bharat Bimal Yadav. While these heroes ‘moved’ their arms and lips one after another on the stage, the not-so-impressive gathering at the theatre were rather ‘unmoved’, despite some ravings from the hardcore sympathisers of the political parties.

How can that be called a ‘movement’, asked one unintelligent fellow at the teashop. The prelude has to be stronger than the rest of the show, reasoned another. With such a lukewarm beginning, these heroes will hardly be able to scare the worshippers of death and bring things back to life, noted still another.

But then, hope is a funny thing. When what we hope for does not come in view, we start inventing hopes. Humans need hopes no matter how hopeless the situation. Therefore, the unintelligent fellows turned their attention to what was happening around the stadium while the static show was going on.

There were women munching on seasonal fruits, sitting quietly on the grassy periphery of the theatre. There was ‘movement’ in their jaws. Similarly, smart entrepreneurs who had erected makeshift shops the very day, sensing the prospects of doing some brisk business were ‘moving’ around offering ill-cooked pakodas, puris and samosas.

There were many people who had arrived from districts with the sole purpose of listening to the leaders. They had indeed ‘moved’ all the way to the capital. In addition to that, their ‘eyes’ were constantly on the ‘move’ as the leaders frequently made funny gestures, sometimes showing the fist to the worshippers of death, who, by the way, never saw the spectacular gesture.

On evidence of these observations, the unintelligent fellows sipping tea at a teashop notorious for its oppressive influence on the human intellect thought that there was indeed plenty of ‘movement’ that day. They deliver what they say, pointed out one fellow. But that kind of ‘movement’ is always there, objected another fellow. So, further observations became relevant.

That day, public transport was declined entry into the heart of the capital. One journalist, who never misses such events, was stuck in the middle of the road as the security personnel thought that since ‘movement’ was already taking place there in the open theatre, its effects should be neutralised by checking traffic ‘movement’. Hence, the commoners were declined their rights to ‘move’ in public transport. Quite naturally, the political parties blasted the government for hatching a conspiracy against the ‘movement’.

What happened, effectively, was that while the political parties had promised a grand, spectacular ‘movement’, things went dismally static. The capital faced some difficult hours of ‘immobility’ while our political heroes were delivering their rhetoric about the necessity of ‘movement’ and how they planned to achieve it.

From these contradictory observations, our unintelligent friends whispering in the dingy teashop went dizzy with confusion. They were at a loss as to whether the ‘movement’ was indeed a ‘movement’ or not.

There is nothing in this world that perfectly fits a definition, reasoned one. This is an age of contamination, when things are neither what they are nor what they are not, said another. In that case we should drop this useless effort of defining things that cannot be defined, said another with an air of finality that was more than sufficient for everyone to realise that the whole discussion was quite below the unintelligent fellows that they were.

Meanwhile, life continued to ‘move’ at a normal pace.

A little bit of a Mideast peace plan

EPHRAIM SNEH

The plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace, known as the road map, cannot be allowed to fail. The alternatives are too frightening. Failure would most likely lead to the collapse of the cabinet of Mahmoud Abbas, the new Palestinian Prime Minister, giving Hamas the upper hand on the Palestinian Street. As a result, those in Israel who have claimed that there are no moderate Palestinians with whom to negotiate will be vindicated.

We can guess what might happen next: another round of terrorism and violence that will make it even more difficult for meaningful Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.

The road map’s success is crucial. But putting it in place will not be easy. Those who would like to sabotage it are determined and ruthless. For this reason, it’s crucial that we find a way to make progress immediately. And the best way to do that is through a quick interim accord - a pilot project for the peace process.

The Gaza Strip is the most appropriate place for such an experiment. This mini road map - "Pilot Gaza" - would have three consecutive stages. First, the Palestinian government would be given full access and power to act in the Gaza Strip.

Second, to improve living standards, all economic and infrastructure projects there - including the US-financed desalination project and the Karni industrial complex - would be resumed and steps would be taken to allow more workers to enter Israel and to facilitate the export of goods from Gaza.

Third, if the Palestinian government could show, within one year, that it had dismantled terrorist organisations in Gaza, stopped incitement and imposed law and order there, then Israel would evacuate its settlements and withdraw its troops.

The assessment that terrorism was effectively suppressed and those conditions for Israel’s withdrawal were met would have to be unanimously validated by representatives from the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

While the aim of the road map is the creation of a viable, independent Palestinian state by 2005, the scope of this state’s sovereignty and its geographic boundaries are, as yet, not specific enough.

But unless Abu Mazen, as Abbas is commonly known, is able to present to the Palestinians a satisfactory and attainable destination for the road map, he will find it difficult to gain the popular support he needs to curb terrorism effectively.

The new Palestinian government may be tempted to stop terrorism through a tacit agreement with Hamas and Islamic Jihad instead of dismantling them. Such an approach would merely postpone the inevitable showdown over who will emerge as the dominant force in Palestinian society - Fatah or Hamas.

So long as the question of Palestinian leadership hangs in the air, violence will continue and the Israelis will feel threatened, and therefore, the Israeli government will not be able to make the hard concessions required for peace.

The success of the Pilot Gaza would accelerate efforts to put in place the road map. It would also reduce violence in other parts of the Palestinian territories, help the residents of Gaza return to normal life and allow the Palestinian Authority to show the world it can govern effectively.

Such success would demonstrate that an agreement based on joint anti-terrorism measures, economic co-operation and the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel can be achieved - not just on a road map, but in reality.

The writer is chairman of the Knesset subcommittee on defence planning and policy and a former member of the Israeli cabinet.

Resolution of civil wars

ASHOK KUMAR PATHAK

Nevertheless is an emerging consensus that civil wars in the post colonial world — even those during the height of the Cold War — resulted largely from internal factors. Fundamentally, postcolonial states faced with the simultaneous challenges of state and nation building. State building involves the creation of effective institutions of government and the development of societal infrastructure to provide, at minimum, co-ordination for the executive, legislative, judicial, and military functions of the state as well as the establishment of institutional channels for political and social mobilisation. In addition, state building requires the development of the physical infrastructure of the society to include transportation networks, hospitals, schools, housing, sanitation facilities, and other public welfare assets that are necessary for the functioning of a society. State building involves both co-ordinated planning and sacrifices; most importantly, it assumes a degree of social cohesion that generates among citizens a sense of identification with the state and a willingness to commit to the process of state building and the sacrifice of parochial interests to more collective ones.

Nation building involves the creation of a national identity that supersedes local identities and loyalties that might compete with and preclude broader identification with the state. The objective in nation building is to make the nation a primary political unit to which citizens swear fealty.

Postcolonial states were almost always forced to build functional state institutions at the same time that they were attempting to galvanise a national consciousness and identity among the often diverse amalgamations of peoples in their territories. Where Western states were able to take each of these challenges (state and nation building) in turn, often over several centuries, postcolonial states were forced to accomplish both simultaneously.

Without a common sense of national identity, there was little motivation for individual to sacrifice their local institutions in order to contribute to the establishment of the often-competing institutions of the state. Rival elite fed this recalcitrance since they often viewed state institutions as competitors to their traditional positions of leadership. The result was fissures within postcolonial state across cultural, class, and regional lines. In addition, postcolonial states were obliged to forge their national identities and promote state institutions during the cold war era and in international political economy that often put draconian limits on their autonomous development.

Research findings on the role of contextual factors in civil war are less disputed but they are not conclusive. For, example, it appears that states with higher levels of economic development are less prone to civil war than poor state. In addition, more mature states are less likely to experience civil wars than younger states. States that are more militarised and those that have a history of past civil wars are more vulnerable to insurgency. Moreover, while there does not appear to be a direct relationship between the cultural diversity of a state and its likelihood of experiencing civil war, states in which ethnic, religious, linguistic or racial groups are culturally polarised seem to be at greater risk for civil war.

An interesting relationship emerges with respect to the association between a state’s level of democracy and its likelihood of civil war. Recent studies suggest an ‘inverted U’ relationship between a state’s level of democracy and its likelihood of experiencing civil war. The assumption is that states with higher levels of democracy are unlikely to experience civil war because of the availability of alternate channels for protest within the political system. States that are more autocratic, also, are less likely to experience civil wars because governments in those states are more likely to effectively repress dissent and stifle protest. However, state with intermediate levels of democracy, semi-democracy, such as those undergoing democratisation—the transformation of a regime to a more democratic form of government—have the highest probability of experiencing civil war.

The resolution of civil wars can take the obvious form of the cessation of hostilities due to the military defeat of either party; nonetheless, even in the case of a clear military outcome, the manner by which the civil war ends might encourage dissatisfied factions to splinter off and generate further insurgency in pursuit of objectives denied by the outcome. This may occur even in the case of an actual settlement between the disputants. For example, dissatisfaction with the political settlement that allowed for the partition of Ireland following the armed conflict between Irish nationalists and British occupation forces in the 1920s split the insurgent forces between supporters of Michael Collins who accepted partition and those of Eamon de Valera who opposed it. This dissension within the insurgency following a settlement of the major conflict precipitated further civil war on the island, which is continuous in various forms up to the present.

What is required for the successful resolution of civil conflicts, is the presence of a mutually hurting stalemate, which is a condition wherein the parties are deadlocked and neither can gain effective advantage through further fighting. At this point, it is argued, both begin to search for alternatives and it is here that third party intervention may contribute to the separation of the disputants, the effective development of peacekeeping forces, the mediation of the dispute, and the resolution of the conflict.

The resolution of civil wars requires a nuance strategy of multinational peacemaking and peacekeeping including the separation of the combatants, establishment of cease-fire, promotion of confidence building measures, reductions in arms sales to the belligerents, and mediation. However, the cessation of hostilities does not necessarily portend the actual termination of the conflict unless the underlying factors that gave rise to the conflict are adequately addressed. These issues might be quit extensive and complex, therefore, the best strategy for decreasing the probability of the recurrence of civil wars is to provide an environment for the peaceful resolution of civil disputes in the first place.

This entails the development of democratic political systems, open and productive economy systems, civic – as opposed to racial, ethnic, or religious requirements for citizenship, and the professionalisation of the armed forces, the teaching of a non-chauvinist curriculum in schools, the development of responsive institutions to redress citizen grievances, and the demilitarisation of society.

In addition, the occurrence of civil wars often suggests that the process of state or nation building in the affected country is far from complete. This was as much the case in the U S civil war in the nineteenth century as in the Biafran Civil War of the 20th century. In some cases, it suggests that independent state building has not been successful and that secession may be necessary, as in the case of Eritrea or the Czech Republic. Although it is not always clear whether the nature of a civil war suggests the need for integration or secession, the interests of the international community should be geared to what is in the best interests of the parties to these conflicts instead of what is the preferred strategy of the superpowers who, in the past, often seemed more interested in recurring new states to their respective blocs and destabilising state in the rival camp.

What is important here to remember is that civil wars often result from the internal demands on societies; nonetheless, an international environment that is conducive to the non-violent resolution of such conflicts remains an indispensable element in promoting peace and preventing civil war.