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

Post-conflict state buildingboundaries of highly demarcated spaces. Thus, it invokes 'articulations ofseparateness, of limitations to access, and of strict boundedness' (Jabri1996, pp 130-131).Post-conflict space is given its special character partially by theintervention of international and transnational actors which might affectthe kinds of domination and resistance taking place. The extent to whichinternational actors are able to alter local and national political relations isthe key question. Afghanistan could be taken as an example to show howinternational intervention which, at present, shows no sign of completion.Rather than building a sovereign state, it creates international space forelite whose position remains weak across large parts of Afghan territory.Similar examples could be cited from Nepal too where, at different timeperiods, different individuals (political elites) have been supported byinternational actors (countries and/or multi-nationals) and instituted inpowerful positions.The legitimating of this idea of international interventions for peaceand democracy opens up new territories for international interventionand the creation of autonomous spaces of international administration.The governance dynamics of such entities can be driven primarily byglobal actors in cases where local elites are excluded. Yet, this inevitablyprovokes a reaction. We must look at how the increasing involvement ofinternational organisations and transnational companies in post-conflictspaces may help produce new forms of governance and resistance, bothlocally and globally. If the local, regional and global interactions are notproperly understood and carefully handled, a return to a precarious ethnopoliticsmay be produced leading to further armed conflict in the future.Though gravely related with the issue of national integrity, it is indicativeto a complex task of state building in post-conflict Nepal.Taking into account the micro aspects in re-making, state building is not asimple job that becomes complete overnight. Countries like Nigeria havenot yet become fully successful in realising the state building process.Even India and China, the emerging South Asian giants, are under criticismfor promoting regional imbalance of development within the country.It is observed that the four years since the American-led invasion ofAfghanistan, the US has learnt some painful lessons about state buildingin both Afghanistan and Iraq (Fukuyama 2009). We have many lessons tolearn from global experiences. But it is not that state building is a far-cryfor us. There are many spaces from where we can start out. This book,indeed, deals with those very issues.10