Shifting Blame Will Not Resolve Our Problems
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed his deep concern over the faltering peace process in Nepal due to a lack of understanding among political parties in a report presented this month to the Security Council. In his previous report, he had called on Nepali political leaders which amounted to working together to find consensus over governance for the success of the peace process.
“There has not been a single prosecution in civilian courts for any of the serious crimes committed during the conflict,” reported said Rhoderick Chalmers, the International Crisis Group’s South Asia Deputy Project Manager. “The culture of impunity that enabled abuses in the first place has remained intact, further increasing public distrust and incentives to resort to violence.”
Nepal’s friends and allies have repeatedly called on the Nepali leaders to work together conscientiously and lead the peace process to its logical conclusion. They have rather openly expressed their concerns that it is not happening.
Most of the Nepali diaspora I meet in London or I speak to elsewhere are completely disenchanted with our political leaders for their unwillingness to work together for the greater good of the country and too much focus on their pursuit of narrow personal or party benefits.
Nepali newspapers are replete with write-ups that clearly indicate that those living in Nepal feel the same way as outside Nepal.
Political leaders have signed several agreements, starting with the 12-point understanding in November 2005, to restore peace and stability in Nepal. To be sure, much progress has happened. The conflict has by and large come to an end, the people have elected a constituent assembly, the mo...
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... has had such ambitious personalities as Girija Prasad Koirala, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, both former prime ministers and Jhalanath Khanal, Chairman of the prime minister’s party. Each of them wants the top chair at Singh Darbar. They would have pulled down Madhav Nepal, the prime minister, if our powerful external friends had not thrown their support behind him.
Sadly though, as long as our political leaders do not rise above their petty personal and parochial party interest and become accountable to the people, Nepal will not be peaceful and secure, let alone developed. Shifting the blame is easy but it does not accomplish anything. Taking responsibility for one’s action does.
If our leaders continue to tread along the current path of bickering, the first casualty will be the peace process. Even losing our identity and sovereignty will not be far down the road.
"Peacekeeping and Peacemaking." Reading and Remembrance . N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2014. . (tags: none | edit tags)
Recent history is replete with egregious, widespread and often systematic wrongdoings: genocide, torture, and mass killing. Cambodia, South Africa, Afghanistan, Iraq, Rwanda, and Guatemala are examples where these grave political injustices have occurred. Histories of violence and humanitarian atrocities leave marks of damage, despair, and pain that can only justice can begin to heal. Hence the central question of Daniel Philpott’s book Just and Unjust Peace: An Ethic of Political Reconciliation: “What does justice consist of in the wake of its massive despoliation?” The answer, Philpott argues, is political reconciliation. However, in investigating two of Philpott’s six practices of reconciliation—apology
... idea to try diplomatic solutions to find a common ground that will satisfy both the people the region and the international community.
Zartman, W. (2001). The Timing of Peace Initiatives: Hurting Stalemates and Ripe Moments. In The Global Review of Ethnopolitics, 1, 1, 8-18.
Gleditsch, Nils Petter, and Havard Hegre. "Peace and Democracy: Three Levels of Analysis." The Journal of Conflict Resolution 41.2 (1997): 283-310. ProQuest. Web. 27 Sep. 2013.
Rwanda and Afghanistan are the two post conflict societies which have been struggling to be stabilized and peaceful so that they may go towards development. Both the countries have been through a huge unrest and war. After the wars have come to an end with the help of international community, both countries have got their constitution and established new governments. Though some people believe that the war in Afghanistan is ended, the situation shows that it is still not peaceful as different groups of insurgents, supported by the neighboring countries like Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan, still operate terrorist activities in order to over through the government or at least destabilize the country. After the collapse of the Taliban regime, an undemocratic interim government was established with the promise that as...
Ripeness and readiness are good theory’s to explain why conflicts ends. They both show how multiple factors come into play to end a conflict. “Ripeness is not sudden, but rather a complex process of transformations in the situation, shifts in public attitudes and new perceptions and visions among decision-makers” (Rambotham, 2011: 180). The Oslo negotiations and the peace process are good examples of the readiness theory and its ease explaining the resolution of these conflicts. The Cambodian conflict poses more difficulty being explained through ripeness. When conflicts are multilateral poses a challenge to readiness theory. Adapting readiness theory
The democratic peace theory was not always seen as the substantial argument and significant contribution to the field of International Relations that it is today. Prior to the 1970’s, it was the realist and non-realist thought that took preeminence in political theoretical thinking. Though the democratic peace theory was first criticized for being inaccurate in its claim that democracy promotes peace and as such democracies do not conflict with each other, trends, statistical data, reports have suggested and proved that the democratic peace theory is in fact valid in its claim. Over the years having been refined, developed and amended, it is now most significant in explaining modern politics and it is easy to accept that there is indeed a lot of truth in the stance that democracy encourages peace. The democratic peace theory is a concept that largely influenced by the likes of Immanuel Kant, Wilson Woodrow and Thomas Paine.
The 1995 Platform for Action states that “the full participation [of women] in decision-making, conflict prevention and resolution and all other peace initiatives [is] essential to the realization of lasting peace.” (The Institute for Inclusive Security, 2009: 2) In October 2000, Security Council Resolution 1325 reinforced this recognition of the important role played by women in peace and security. This pioneering resolution attempted to correct the disproportionately low representation of women in formal peace processes (Mcghie & Wamai, 2011: 5) however realisation of this obligation is limited. (The Institute for Inclusive Security, 2009: 1) Women remain the largest group of stakeholders regularly excluded from official negotiation processes.(The Institute for Inclusive Security, 2009: 1) Whilst gender sensitive conflict mediation is not a panacea to cure the ills of peacemaking, it is an under-utilised practical necessity (Potter, 2008: 56) Influence of women on peace agreements are always beneficial (Buchanan, 2011: 6)and importantly, when women are actively involved, peace agreements are more credible and cover a broader range of issues. (The Institute for Inclusive Security, 2009: 2) women’s participation has an impact not only on the peace process but also on its outcome and on the durability of peace The advantages of participation of women in mediation and peacemaking processes can be divided into three: effects on the nature of the process itself allowing for a smoother process, broadening the concerns addressed to include more community wide needs and improving the legitimacy and sustainability of the final agreement by securing benefits for the whole population. (Mcghie & Wamai, 2011: 3). This essay will address thes...
Savada, Andrea Matles. 1993. Nepal And Bhutan: Country Studies. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office.
True communication, like the charity it requires, begins at home. Perhaps a peacemaking should start small. I am not suggesting for a moment that we should abandon global peacemaking efforts. I am dubious, however, as to how far we can move toward global community--which is the only way to achieve international peace--until we learn the basic principles of community in our own individual lives and personal spheres of influence. (Peck 17-18)
Before we dive into conflict in The Lord of the Rings, we first conduct a general survey on experts’ attitudes and opinions on war and conflict. We see that the world’s largest international body, the United Nations (UN), is driven by “activities … for the maintenance of peace”, according to clau...
...aige, G.D. (1996). To leap beyond yet nearer bring: From war to Peace to non violence to non killing. “Creating non violent futures”. 16th General Conference of the International Peace Research Association, July 8-12, 1996, University of Queensland, Brisbane, pp. 2-24.
David, L. (2012). Afghanistan: Pathways to peace, New Directions for an Inclusive Peace in Afghanistan. Peace Build , 5-12.
Contemporary peace theorists refer to two types of peace: positive and negative peace. Positive peace refers the concept of conflict prevention, while negative peace is the absence of war. Assuming positive peace is desired, the movement towards peace must draw on the best traditions of society and emphasizes gradual change within an established political system. Therefore, within this perspective it is important that states understand the challenges they face, such as reducing their reliance on weapons and armed forces. The most haunting problem of the peace movement is the issue of addressing human rights abuses without using force during armed conflicts.