(The
views expressed in this issue
are solely those of the authors)
Pushpesh
Pant, Professor
at the Jawaharlal
Nehru University,
New Delhi, looks
at the shifting
sands of Indian
politics, which
baffled all opinion
and exit pollsters,
and tries to explore
various factors,
regional and sub-regional
variations and
the interplay
of political forces
that have resulted
in the defeat
of the Bharatiya
Janata Party and
the emergence
of the Congress
party on the clutches
of strong regional
and the Left allies.
Much will depend,
he argues, on
how the ruling
United Progressive
Alliance will
conduct itself
and address challenges
of governance,
globalisation
and the actual
needs of the people
at the grassroots,
especially the
poor.
K.K.
Katyal, Consulting
Editor of the
Hindu, portrays
electoral gains
and losses of
the major contestants
across states,
the magic of the
politics of alliances
and the interplay
of regional and
national political
forces that have
resulted in the
victory of secular
parties in the
recent elections,
despite no bigger
electoral swings
except in certain
states. Comparing
party positions
and evaluating
different factors,
the experienced
journalist focuses
on different policy
issues and emphasizes,
adjustments and
compromises as
sine qua non of
formation of coalition
governments.
Jayadeva
Uyangoda, Professor
at the University
of Colombo, presents
an empirical picture
emerging after
the 2004 elections
in Sri Lanka,
which produced
a very fractured
mandate and a
minority government
dependent on the
support of parties
like JVP and JHU
who are opposed
to a workable
settlement with
the Tamil minority,
represented by
LTTE. He proceeds
to analyse in
detail various
political shades,
their conflicts
and configurations
and their serious
implications for
running a coalition
while attempting
to stage a sort
of constitutional
'coup' to shift
to parliamentary
and first-past-the-post
system.
Asanga
Welikala, Research
Associate at Centre
for Policy Alternatives,
Sri Lanka, analyses
the implications
of a dual mandate
in what he describes
as a 'hybrid'
constitution which
allows the dichotomy
of power between
the President
and the Prime
Minister. Evaluating
the power struggle
between the two
executive centres
that led to the
recent elections,
he focuses on
the nature of
Sinhala majoritarian
politics, the
Tamil question,
the peace process
and the issues
of electoral politics,
while critically
reflecting upon
the role and character
of different political
forces in Sri
Lanka.
Jeremy Seabrooke,
a journalist and
campaigner, in
a sceptical narrative
about Bangladesh
exposes the enigma
of nationhood,
conflicting cultural
pulls, politics
of an unending
feud between the
two leaders and
their parties
woven around their
respective personality-cults
and the pathetic
state of its people
with a shattered
dream. In a light
style, but with
a cutting edge,
the author tries
to highlight the
inner maladies
of a people who
have left an undeniable
imprint on the
subcontinents'
history and still
torn by the opposite
pulls of nation-building
and political
conflict.
Dr Mohammad Waseem,
Professor at Quaid-i-Azam
University, Islamabad
thoroughly analyses
both the context
and interplay
of civil-military
relations in the
run up to and
formation of government,
after the 2002
general elections
in Pakistan, dubbed
as rigged due
to exclusion of
the leadership
of two mainstream
parties in the
opposition. Critically
evaluating the
contours of power-play,
he describes the
dynamics of a
diarchical system
in which both
the Prime Minister
and the Parliament
have become a
hostage to a powerful
Presidency.
Khaled
Ahmed, Consulting
Editor, Daily
Times, Pakistan,
traces elements
of change both
in the self-perception
and approach of
the two countries
and pins hope
in evolving Indo-Pak
détente
around, suggestively,
a 'sustainable
ambiguity'. Encouraged
by shifts in focus
in New Delhi and
Islamabad, for
of course opposite
reasons, he sees
wisdom in taking
an incremental
approach in the
absence of scriptures
rooted in bureaucratic
adversity of the
two hawkist establishments.
Lailufar
Yasmin, from the
University of
Dhaka, surveys
India-Bangladesh
relations in all
spheres, especially
on account of
border demarcation,
water rights as
a lower-riparian
country, deportation
and repatriation
of Bangladeshi
‘economic
immigrants’,
unequal trade
resulting in huge
trade deficit
for Dhaka, security
concerns and what
she criticises
as India's 'coercive
hegemony' that
shakes the confidence
of its next-door
small neighbours.
From purely Bangladesh's
standpoint, she
makes a case for
a more institutionalised
relationship while
conceding a kind
of maternalistic
Indian hegemony.
Prof.
Shanti Kumar,
from the University
of Wisconsin-Madison,
in a remarkable
analysis of the
fascination of
the masses with
'Miss World' beauty
contest, of course,
organised and
capitalised by
the globalised
corporate interests,
shows the real
ideological contest
between the nationalist,
feminist and traditional
standpoints, on
the one hand,
and cosmopolitan,
modern and global
values of commodification
of sexuality and
objectification
of the female
body not just
for the male imagination
but for expanding
the reach of commodity
fetishism across
traditional cultures.
For women rights
activists and
critics of globalisation,
there are lessons
to be learnt from
the convergence
of positions that
took place among
the adversarial
schools of Hindutva,
feminism and nationalism,
in opposing the
Miss World contest
in Bangalore in
1996
Kuldip
Nayar, freelance
columnist and
a leading peace
activist, passionately,
but from a position
of status quo,
reflects upon
the ups and
downs of Indo-Pak
relations over
a longer period,
with himself
as a witness
to so many turning
points of efforts
at bringing
a thaw between
the two countries.
Informed by
a secular paradigm
that precludes
addressing the
right to self-determination
of a people
on the pretext
of making the
Muslim minority
a hostage to
communalist
backlash, Mr.
Nayar argues
a case that
provides food
for thought
and provokes
a polemical
response from
those who would
like to question
some of his
formulations
and what seems
to be one sided
facts.
Tapan Kumar Bose,
analyst and Secretary
General SAFHR,
analyses the historical
background, socio-economic
contest, derailment
of liberalisation
and its consequent
social implications,
narrow-ethnic
composition of
the old and new
elite, struggle
among the political
adversaries and
an all-powerful
King, on the one
hand, and the
Maoists, on the
other. Against
the backdrop of
the crisis of
state and a divided
house of Nepali
elite, Mr. Bose
evaluates the
situation in Nepal
which is getting
out of the control
of the major players,
thanks to sharp
divisions on the
nature of the
republic.
Dr Reinuka Dagar,
researcher at
the Institute
of Development
and Communication
at Chandigarh,
presents an analysis
of the gender
stereotypes currently
in use by the
media in India
and offers policy
alternatives to
confront this
representation
of gender in the
Indian media.
Using case studies
and previously
conducted research,
the author looks
at how stereotyped
gender representation
effectively creates
notions of gender
identity, making
sure that the
stereotyped media
representation
becomes the norm.
Mustapha Kamal
Pasha, Professor
of International
Relations at American
University in
Washington DC,
locates Pakistan’s
lingering dilemmas
in the neo-liberal
order and political
economy of globalization.
Reviewing critically
and broadly in
abstract theoretical
terms, the author
tries to develop
a framework, different
from the existing
paradigm dictated
by the IMF and
World Bank and
manipulated by
the military elite,
to get out of
the predicaments
Pakistan finds
itself.
