English - Support to Participatory Constitution Building in Nepal ...

Addressing land-based discriminationIn Marxist ideology, autonomy of political power has not been a focus,rather political power is subservient to economic power and fundamentalchanges in the society are determined and caused by the economic forcesand modes of production. Mode of production determines the politicaland social superstructure. In material life, it determines the generalcharacter of social, political and spiritual process.In the past, feudalism was based on ownership of land, the dominantmode of production. Political power was dominated by absolute kings andfeudal overlords. Wealth and position in society was derived from the landownership and the land-owners had dominated different state structure.This dominance ensured the class characteristics of the state. Thus, theland-based discrimination principally appears in a structural sense.Structuralists have used the terms ‘structural constraints’ and the ‘logic ofsystem’ as the means of explaining why a system serves the interests ofdominant class. Going beyond the control of an individual, it tries to showhow the intentions of people and actions are influenced by the factorsoutside their control and tries to provide concepts which could be usedto analyse system constraints. It also attempts to show how differentstructures contribute to the maintenance of system and eventually tothe perpetuation of division of power established by the system (Joseph2004).In sum, political power is the means of dominance and oppression inhands of possessing class to further their class interest. Economic powerhas affected and subjugated the political power or, it means that, theeconomic power governs political power.1.2 Deprivation and exploitationAn individual, group or any community feels something inferior, frustration,anger or some sorts of deprivation when they lack some goods, resource,service or comfort. They are more likely to organise to improve theirconditions or to fight against barriers of deprivation.Similarly, Sen (1981) argues that starvation and poverty are matters ofdeprivation. They are explained through the use of the entitlement relationand exchange of the entitlement. This entitlement relation describesabout the ownership structure which is determined by certain rules oflegitimacy. There are four types of entitlement relations: trade-based,production-based, owner labor, and inheritance and transfer entitlement(ibid).152