Why are Maoist, Naxalite and Left extremist movements taking root in the most backward and underdeveloped regions of South Asia? This book examines this multi-layered question in democracies such as India and Nepal through an analysis of these movements as well as their leaderships and ideologies. Through a series of detailed interviews and dialogues, it sheds fresh light into the minds and actions of people who have critically defined the nature of Maoism and related movements in the region. Weaving together diverse narratives, voices, and streams of dissent, this first-of-its-kind volume brings cohesion to the seemingly fragmented but formidable Maoist politics in South Asia. It also highlights how such ‘civil wars’ are embedded into the larger politics of the region. Perceptive and lucid, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of politics, sociology, peace and conflict studies, and security studies, especially those concerned with Maoism and social movements. It will also be useful to government institutions and policy-makers.

Windows into a Revolution edited by Alpa Shah and Judith Pettigrew, the first book in the series offers glimpses into the spread of Maoism in India and Nepal by tracing some of its effects on the lives of ordinary people living amidst the revolutions. Weaving through the nostalgic reflections of former Bengali Naxalites; the resurgence of ancestral conflicts in the spread of the Maoists in the remote hills of western Nepal; the disillusionments of dalits of central Bihar in the policies of the cadres; to the complexities of the interrelationship between non-aligned civilians and insurgents in central Nepal, the book offers a series of windows into different stages of mobilization and transformation into what are, were or may become, revolutionary strongholds. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

The Bullet and the Ballot Box offers a rich and sweeping account of a decade of revolutionary upheaval. When Nepal’s Maoists launched their armed rebellion in the nineties, they had limited public support and many argued that their ideology was obsolete. Twelve years later they were in power, and their ambitious plan of social transformation dominated the national agenda. How did this become possible? Adhikari’s narrative draws on a broad range of sources – including novels, letters and diaries – to illuminate the history and human drama of the Maoist revolution. An indispensible account of Nepal’s recent history, the book offers a fascinating case study of how communist ideology has been reinterpreted and translated into political action in the twenty-first century.

Provides authoritative background and interpretation of the Maoist insurgency in Nepal.

The present study is an attempt to understand the problem of Maoist insurgency in Nepal since its inception to the withdrawal of the insurgency and the Maoist joining the political mainstream. The Maoist decision in 2006 to join the multi party democracy has not only given a new dimension to Nepali politics but it also raises a number of questions of academic interest. Why did Maoist take a U-turn? What are the problems and prospects of republican state and inclusive democracy in Nepal? How does the Maoist look at their political future in the upcoming political system of Nepal? These are the issues that his book has tried to focus upon. The study runs into seven chapter viz. COMMUNIST MOVEMENT IN NEPAL: HISTORICO-POLITICAL CONTEXT " A MOVEMENT IN THE MAKING PARTIES, GOVERNANCE AND POLITICS BETWEEN 1990-95 " MAOIST IDEOLOGY, ORGANIZATION AND STRATEGY " MAOIST SUPPORT BASES, FACTORS AND FORCES " GROWTH OF MAOIST MOVEMENT " MAOIST MOVEMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES " TAKING A 'U' TURN: MAOISTS JOINNING THE POLITICAL MAINSTREAM " The study is designed to discuss the Maoist problems in their total perspective: from its emergence to their joinning the mainstream politics and afterwards. It is hoped that the book will be useful to both academics and the general readers.

The book deals with the dynamics and growth of a violent 21st century communist rebellion initiated in Nepal by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) – CPN(M). It contextualizes and explains why and how a violent Maoist insurgency grew in Nepal after the end of the Cold War, in contrast to the decline of other radical communist movements in most parts of the world. Scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds employ a wide variety of approaches and methods to unravel different aspects of the rebellion. Individual chapters analyze the different causes of the insurgency, factors that contributed to its growth, the organization, agency, ideology and strategies employed by the rebels and the state, and the consequences of the insurgency. New issues are analysed in conjunction with the insurgency, such as the role of the Maoist student organization, Maoist's cultural troupes, the organization and strategies of the People's Army and the Royal Nepal Army, indoctrination and recruitment of rebels, and international factors. Based on original field work and a thorough analysis of empirical data, this book fills an existing gap in academic analyses of the insurgency in Nepal.

By providing a rich ethnography of wartime social processes in the former Maoist heartland of Nepal, this book explores how the Maoist People's War (1996–2006) transformed Nepali society. Drawing on long-term fieldwork with people who were located at the epicentre of the conflict, including both ardent Maoist supporters and 'reluctant rebels', it explores how a remote Himalayan village was forged as the centre of the Maoist rebellion, how its inhabitants coped with the situation of war and the Maoist regime of governance, and how they came to embrace the Maoist project and maintain ordinary life amidst the war while living in a guerilla enclave. By focusing on people's everyday lives, the book illuminates how the everyday became a primary site of revolution of crafting new subjectivities, introducing 'new' social practices and displacing the 'old' ones, and reconfiguring the ways that people act in and think about the world through the process of 'embodied change'.