ConflictStudyCenter (CSC) is now Peace and Conflict Studies Center (PCSC), as originally conceived and planned, for all purposes. This reflects the fact that Nepal and Nepali people’s primary focus now has shifted from conflict to peace. PCSC believes that all its attention and activities need to be concentrated on peace and helping to make it sustained.  Providing quality training to highly capable Nepalis to become dedicated peace professionals will be part of PCSC’s support to the peace process.  At the sane time, however, PCSC will continue its activities concerning conflict and violence minimization and research and information dissemination on peace and conflict.  PCSC welcomes any and all ideas and suggestions as to how it might be better able to contribute to the country’s strenuous journey to peace. 

Situation Update 95
By -Devendra Uprety

Understanding Political Violence


Political violence is characterized by both direct and structural violence used by a state, political party, ethnic or regional group to achieve its objectives. It is conceptualized by Moser and Clark (2001) very succinctly as the collective sphere manifested in “guerrilla conflict, para-military conflict, political assassinations, armed conflict between political parties, rape and sexual abuse as a political act and forced pregnancy/sterilization. It is a collective effort to impose or resist power and it is driven by intention or the will to power of a specific group, class, religion, gender, etc.


Scholars who have written on political violence tend to accept that power, politics, and violence are interconnected phenomena (Galtung, 1969; Huntington, 1997; Kleinman, 2000; Moser & Clark, 2001; Apter, 1997; Kapferer, 1997; Wieviorka, 2003; Rosenblum, 2000; Travis, 2000; Gurr, 1997; Spencers, 2007; and Zarkov, 2001). Their literature makes clear that political violence is associated with political conflict – the perception of incompatible political motives and interests – it is clear that political violence has two principal forms: direct and structural. Two or more parties are in conflict over political goals. This political conflict may include direct violent responses. That is: various forms of armed conflict and behavior intended to do injury to others in the pursuit of political objectives. This is found within the social, political and economic systems of society
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May 7, 2010

At 2.20 PM on May 1, 2010 at the western gate of the Khula Manch (Martyr Theater), an aged, thin-and-weak man of about 35 fainted. The volunteers of the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) made a human chain of 10 meters in circumference around the huge crowd. A few of them tried to cool him down by fanning their caps and papers and throwing their drinking water over him. Both of his legs were buckled from the intense heat, while camera men were eager to snap images/bod. The crowd members were seeking first aiders to treat him. Two minutes later, he stood up with the help of a man. His face and lips were dried. A woman aiding him grasped his right hand and disappeared with him through the sea of humans .

While the above is but one example of a casualty in a protest environment, it is important to note that there are large numbers of youths and women which participate in anti-government protests in Kathmandu. Besides the local participation, hundreds of demonstrators are coming or are brought in to Kathmandu to participate in the rallies and the indefinite general strike.

By Bishnu Pathak, Ph.D.
April 21, 2010

Nepal may again find itself in the middle of a deep national crisis if a new Constitution is not announced by the stipulated date. The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal is rich in terms of cultural heritage with various ethnic, tribal, and social groups. Situated in the Himalayas, Nepal adjoins the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and India in the south. Nepalese are the descendants of Tibeto-Burman migrants from the north and Indo-Aryans from the south. Census 2001 listed 103 caste/ethnic groups with 92 different living languages. There are three major linguistic groups - Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-Burman and indigenous. The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly in early 2008 formally ended the world's only Hindu kingdom and henceforth it became a secular nation with a population mix of 80.6% Hindus, 11% Buddhists and 4.2% Muslims.

The drafting of a new constitution by the Constituent Assembly (CA) had been much awaited since 1950. B P Koirala, the founder of Nepali Congress (NC), was an advocate of CA, until his death. The CPN (UML), demanded for a CA, but was wrecked with the conspiratorial death of Madan Bhandari. The UCPN (Maoist) finally succeeded to endorse the CA through the means of the People’s War.