Limited but Evolving: The Political Economy of Social Protections in Nepal

Nepal’s awakening to growing social protection needs occurred only lately with most policies introduced in the 1990s. While comparable by Asian and particularly South Asian standards, these protections are limited and inconsistent. This article takes stock of social protection policies in Nepal with particular emphasis on the extent of coverage relative to needs. It explores the political economy, demand and political contexts to explain why social protections have developed the way they have in Nepal’s modern history. The understanding of Nepal’s struggle with this globally contested issue also helps draw parallels to other low-income countries.     

尼泊尔的城市化建设

20世纪90年代以来尼泊尔的经济较前有了一定发展,城市化建设初见成效,但由于基础设施建设滞后,城市化的路途还很漫长.     

Taking the bait: Maoists and the democratic lure in Nepal

After leading a tumultuous revolutionary people's war for a decade, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has slithered into a peace process and is being egged on to put the revolution to the vote. Maoists themselves are sending mixed signals about whether or not they are going to take the democratic bait to save the “beautiful” democratic, peace process from the “beastly” people's war, urban insurrection and revolution. My contention is that unless the lie of the liberal political process is identified in its most democratic, free and fair forms and not just in its secret, conspiratorial underside, the Maoists might be lured into an unbalanced democratic game. The article argues that the Maoists were not just pushed into this political process by force of circumstance, as the best possible option, “given the international and national situation,” but it seems to follow from their flawed understanding that the present political process constitutes a progressive phase in the path to a New Democratic society. The Maoists are, of course, not abandoning the revolution as such but they are possibly metamorphosing from revolution-embodied to speaking in the name of the revolution – perhaps with the added risk of transforming the revolution itself to just a name.     

Negotiating Access to Land in Nepal

In a rural agrarian economy like that of Nepal, land has traditionally been a primary source of livelihood and security, as well as a symbol of status. Thousands of poor farmers are completely dependent on land for their livelihoods, yet not all of them have access to or control over this fundamental resource. Negotiation for access to land has been a lengthy and complicated process. It remains so in the changed political context of Nepal, where increasing numbers of emerging actors need to be considered, often with conflicting claims and counterclaims. In this context the traditional ways of thinking need to be revised, both with regard to the negotiating process and the mechanisms of land reform, to accommodate the country’s recent and ongoing massive socio-economic transformation.     

Pre-capitalist Reproduction on the Nepal Tarai: Semi-feudal Agriculture in an Era of Globalisation

This article highlights the continued significance of pre-capitalist formations in shaping the trajectory of economic transition in peripheral regions, even in an era of neo-liberal globalisation. There is a tendency for Marxist scholars to assume the inevitable “dominance” of capitalism over older modes of production. Using a case study from Nepal's far eastern Tarai, this paper seeks to understand the reproduction of feudal social relations in a region which is both accessible and integrated into regional and global markets. The paper traces the early subordination of indigenous groups to feudalism from the eighteenth century onwards, and the political and ideological processes through which these social relations were reinforced. Through examining the historical role of feudal-colonial alliances, however, the paper notes that pre-capitalist reproduction in Nepal is a dynamic process, actively negotiated and reinforced by the external imperatives of capitalist expansion itself as well as through the entrenched political power of landed classes. Today feudal and capitalist formations co-exist and articulate, with surplus divided between landlords and non-farm employers. Understanding the complex dynamics of feudal or “semi-feudal” reproduction in an era of globalisation is crucial if one is to identify avenues for collective mobilisation against inequitable pre-capitalist and capitalist class relations.     

Foreign Labor Migration and the Remittance Economy of Nepal

Official statistics seriously underestimate the number of Nepali migrant workers abroad and both the volume and value of remittances flowing back into Nepal from those workers. Original research by the authors suggests that many migrant workers abroad are working illegally and unofficially, and that the bulk of remittances also flow back into Nepal informally and illegally. The scale of remittances, consequently, is at least ten times greater than official estimates indicate (equal to 13 percent of GDP) and quite possibly twenty times greater (equal to 25 percent of GDP). This indicates the need for a thorough reconsideration of Nepal's balance of payments. The authors illustrate how remittances flow back into Nepal unevenly, contributing to growing inequalities, both between regions and between social classes.     

The New Arab Media Phenomenon: Qatar's Al-Jazeera

This paper was given at the thirty-fourth annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, November 16–19, 2000, in Orlando, Florida.     

Migration in far west Nepal: intergenerational linkages between internal and international migration of rural-to-urban migrants

In Nepal, international labor migration to India and overseas, as well as internal migration to the rural Nepalese lowlands, is of high socioeconomic significance. Scholarly debates about migration in Nepal have gradually shifted from an economic to a more holistic perspective, also incorporating social dimensions. However, little evidence has been generated about internal migration to urban destinations and the potential linkages between international and internal migration. This article draws on Bourdieu's “Theory of Practice” and sees migration as a social practice. Accordingly, migration practice is regarded as a strategy social agents apply to increase or transfer capitals and ultimately secure or improve their social position. Evidence for this argument is based on a qualitative case study of rural to urban migrants in Far West Nepal conducted in July and August 2009. The study at hand addresses linkages between internal and international migration practices and provides insight about a social stratum that is often neglected in migration research: the middle class and, more precisely, government employees. The authors show that social relations are crucial for channeling internal migration to a specific destination. Furthermore, they unveil how internal migration is connected to the international labor migration of former generations. Finally, the authors examine how migration strategies adopted over generations create multi-local social networks rooted in the family's place of origin.