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

The Remake of a StateThe SLF campaign emphasised both on raising public and political awarenessabout the economic costs of the war, as well as the social and economicbenefits of a peaceful climate. A number of public demonstrations forpeace were held, backed by a media campaign that lobbied for businessto adopt practices that foster peace, but SLF stopped short of taking anypolitical position in terms of solutions to the conflict. It played a veryproactive role in convincing all parties to come to the negotiating table,and the campaign influenced voters towards supporting peace-orientedparties and candidates.Similarly, in case of South Africa, the business community played a veryeffective role right from the time when South Africa was under apartheiduntil the transition to democracy. What is particularly noteworthy is thatthat the business community was able and smart enough to contextualiseits involvement according to the prevailing situation in the country. Inthe early stages when South Africa was an illegitimate state, and a closedeconomy with a divided society and command structure, the businesscommunity worked with a low profile delivering services directly tothe community. In the transition phase, it worked with political partiesgarnering support, forging relationships and finally, in the democratic setup, it went on to build partnership with the government for reconstructionand development (Whittaker 2003). During all these three phases,however, the enduring concern of business community was on justice,democracy, poverty, economy and relationships.In short, South African business community was able to facilitate theprocess towards transition and transformation by responding early toa crisis situation within the prevailing context and by working togetherand reaching out to the community, political and government leaders. Itwas able to undertake projects that benefited the poor and encouragedgrowth, justice and democracy by building bridges across interest groups.It showed that it was possible to work in the interest of both the businesscommunity and the society at large.The question is, can Nepal’s business community show a similar courage,vision and commitment in the ongoing transition process as shown by theprivate sector actors in Sri Lanka and South Africa? What role can it play inthe post-conflict reconstruction?9. Need for a post-conflict policy agendaIt is of utmost importance that Nepal needs a new policy agenda inpost-conflict reconstruction and state building. Reconstruction and57