PUBLIC AFFAIRS SYMPOSIUM ON NEPAL
Democrats, Maoists and the Monarchy: Nepal at the Crossroads

March 12, 2OO5, 9:OOAM - 5:OOPM
The Lipman Room, Barrows Hall
University of California, Berkeley

Tentative Program

Event Poster

I. Background: Nepal in Crisis
Since the Maoists withdrew from the democratic process more than ten years ago, Nepal has witnessed an insurgency that has deeply divided the country, bringing it to the brink of outright civil war. In the process, this insurgency has also destabilized parts of neighboring Northern India. The violent campaign, which began in February 1996, has not only changed the political landscape of Nepal (more than half of the country’s territory is now under varying degrees of influence of the Maoists), but has also deeply traumatized a population that for centuries had seen hardly any armed conflict. Nepalis now find themselves caught in the middle of an essentially un-winnable war, the victims of both the Maoists and the government’s security forces. Besides some 10,000 victims of the fighting, there is an ever increasing number of missing civilians, feared abducted and killed by forces of either side. The shootout in the Palace, with the killing of King Birendra as well as the obliteration of his branch of the royal family, has heightened the sense of insecurity and further weakened the institutions of the Nepali state. This already complex and difficult situation has been aggravated by the new king’s dismissal of the last democratically elected government in the fall of 2002. The various caretaker governments set in place by the king since then have lacked democratic legitimacy and proved unable to negotiate any lasting settlement with the Maoists. However, the reinstatement of Sher Bahadur Deuba as Prime Minister in summer 2004 and the prospect of elections in 2005 have given rise to new hopes. All the same, since the violent termination of the last ceasefire in summer 2003, the security situation has deteriorated further, and, for the time being, there seems to be no solution to the confrontation with the Maoists. The security situation severely hampers business (in a recent move, the Maoists temporarily forced some fifty major companies to close down operations) and drastically reduces the income from tourism (the main source of revenue for Nepal beside foreign remittances), thereby further impoverishing a country already counted among the ten poorest worldwide. Even more alarming, much of the productive male population has been forced to flee the countryside, leaving behind a tattered rural economy and destroying the social fabric of village life.

Nepal is located at the periphery of South Asian politics and receives very little international attention. Yet, this growing conflict with potentially disastrous consequences deserves our attention, not only because of its intrinsic interest, but also because of the wider, very serious implications it has for the stability of Northern India.

II. The Proposed Symposium
We plan to host on the Berkeley campus of the University of California a one day symposium on the political situation in Nepal on Saturday, the 12th of March, 2005. We want to bring together academics, journalists and others with directly or indirect involvement. The participants will reflect different backgrounds and view the insurgency in conflicting terms. This promises to be a controversial exchange which will shed new light on the conflict and its origins, and on possible avenues to its solution.

In order to get together both expertise and diversity of perspectives we have invited the following experts:

Ambassador Peter Burleigh, a senior member of the State Department until his retirement. In the past he served also in Nepal and continues to stay in close touch with events there.

Daman Nath Dhungana, a leading lawyer and advocate of human rights and democracy with a wealth of political experience. He was the first speaker of parliament after the restoration of democracy and instrumental in drawing up the new constitution.

Dipak Gyawali, currently Pragya (Academician) of the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (RONAST) and research director of the Institute of Social and Environmental Transition, Nepal (ISET-N). By profession, he is a hydroelectric power engineer (he holds a MA from Moskovsky Energetichesky Institute, USSR) as well as a political economist studying resource use (he holds a further MA from UC Berkeley). Dipak closely follows political events in Nepal and, as an independent, was a recent minister of the Chand caretaker government.

Dr Marcus Moench, President of the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition at the University of Colorado at Boulder, who works with non-government, government and international organizations on water, energy and forest management in Nepal. He closely follows political developments and is interested in projects that nurture a political culture of democracy and consent in Nepal.

Dr Anup Pahari, Nepalese sociologist living in Washington, formerly held a teaching appointment for sociology at Goucher College, now works as a consultant. Anup coveres the political situation in Nepal closely, and is frequently in Nepal.

Dr Judy Pettigrew, a medical and social anthropologist who is a Senior Lecturer in the Lancashire School of Health and Postgraduate Medicine at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. She has done extensive field work in areas affected by the Maoist insurgency, researching the impact on rural civilians. On this topic she has recently authored several articles and a forthcoming book ("Fearful Places: An Ethnography of Terror, Landscape and Healing in Nepal's Maoist Insurgency").

Deepak Thapa, journalist and writer from Nepal for the Himal Association in Kathmandu. He has two books on the Maoist insurgency to his credit, a collection of articles Understanding the Maoist Movement and a monograph entitled A Kingdom Under Siege : Nepal’s Maoist Insurgency, 1996 to 2003 (Kathmandu, The Printhouse, 2003).

Dr Sangeeta Thapliyal, PhD, an Indian security expert who is currently on a prestigious Asian fellowship; she has been studying the political situation in Nepal for several years and for this purpose interviewed key figures from asides.

For discussants we want to draw on local know-how: Prof. Orville Schell, dean of the graduate school of journalism, Prof. Pradeep Chhibber, the chair of the Department of Political Science at UC Berkeley who specializes on South Asia, Alexander von Rospatt, a professor at UC Berkeley working on Nepalese Buddhism who has spent much of the last seven years in Nepal, and Dr. Neil Joeck, adjunct professor of Political Science at UC Berkeley, and South Asian arms and security research fellow at Lawrence Berkeley Labs.

The morning session will be dedicated to an historical analysis of the Maoist insurgency and an update of the current situation. The afternoon session will examine the divergent approaches pursued to date to deal with the Maoist insurgency, and also address possible ways of arriving at a lasting settlement. The choice of participants ensures that this will not be a mere academic exercise, but an open-minded exchange and brain storming that may also have practical implications and contribute, in a minor way, to a solution of this devastating conflict. The Nepal Association of Northern California had pledged its support for the event, which is set to draw a large audience beyond academia, in particular among the sizeable community of Nepalese expatriates living in the Bay Area.

Dr Marcus Moench has raised the possibility that the project Rebuilding the Middle Ground or similar initiatives (e.g. Carnegie, Ford, McArthur) could host a follow-on meeting as an open brain storming session and exchange “behind closed doors” on the next day (= Sunday). As a possible venue he has suggested the Pacific Center in Oakland.

Tentative Program
(The bracketed titles of the presentations are tentative and will be finalized later)

The symposium is organized by The Center on Institutions and Governance at UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, and the Center for South Asia Studies. Cosponsors include the World Affairs Council, the Nepal Association of Northern California, and other UC Berkeley departments, including Political Science, the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, International Studies, and the Human Rights Center. The event will be accompanied by a photo exhibition of the works of Li Onesto and Keli Dailey documenting the Maoist insurgency in Nepal.

Each of the participants will give a presentation of 15 to 30 minutes The first four talks in the morning session will be dedicated to an historical analysis of the Maoist insurgency and an update of the current situation. The second set of four talks is scheduled for the first afternoon session. It will examine the international dimension of the conflict focusing on the role played by India and the US, as well as probe into the divergent approaches pursued to date to deal with the Maoist insurgency and to arrive at a lasting settlement. The concluding session in the later afternoon will be an open round discussion with all participants chaired by Orville Schell.

9:OO - 11:OO AM

The Maoist Insurgency: Its History, Causes and Effects
(Chaired by Alexander v. Rospatt)

Deepak Thapa: [A historical overview of the Maoist insurgency]
Anup Pahari: Contentious Politics: Visions and Versions of Democracy in Nepal
Marcus Moench: The Consequences of Imported Institutions: Perspectives from an Observer
Judy Pettigrew: [The suffering on the Ground. The impact of the insurgency and counter-insurgency operations on the common people]

11:OO - 1:OO PM

Screening of the new documentary Six Stories by Mohan Mainali (presented by Arlene Blum) and Lunch

1:OO - 3:OO PM

The Current Situation and the Role Played by the International Community
(chaired by Pradeep Chhibber)

Damannath Dunghana: [The contested constitution and the power struggle between the palace, the democratic parties and the Maoist insurgents] (he may also address the deteriorating human rights situation)
Sangeeta Thapliyal: [Confronting an unstable neighbor: Indian views of the Maoist Insurgency and its stance on the latest royal take-over]
Peter Burleigh: [Western views of the Maoist Insurgency and the latest royal take-over]
Dipak Gyawali: [A fresh look at the perspectives of the palace, the parties and the Maoist insurgents, and how to forge on from here]

3:3O - 5:OO PM

Round Table Discussion
(Chaired by Orville Schell. In addition to the panelists, Li Onesto will join the discussion)