Peace Tools & Conflict Nuances in India’s Northeast. edited by Wasbir Hussain. Published by Wordweaves India, Guwahati (2010), pages 235, Price 499 (ISBN-978-81-909903-1-8)

About the Book

The book, Peace Tools & Conflict Nuances in India’s Northeast, is a collection of essays on various dimensions of conflict in the northeastern Indian theatre, a vast region inhabited by 40 million people that has seen armed separatist insurrections for more than six decades, and, of course, ethnic aspirations taking the form of violent uprisings. Aside from well known analysts, academics, journalists, and people directly involved in governance making their points on such aspects in a conflict situation as the role of the civil society or the media, or talk in general terms about conflict dynamics and theories, the volume has essays that looks at an unusual possibility—

can political science as a discipline beused as a tool to understand and resolve conflicts, say in the Northeast. Papers on the civil liberty issue, the moral economy of counter-insurgency, conceptualizing gender, peace and conflict in a state like Assam, and conflict management approaches, help in understanding the intricate conflict nuances in Northeast India. The editor of this volume, Wasbir Hussain, Director of the Centre for Development & Peace Studies and a well known security analyst, had added another dimension by arguing in his essay that diplomacy can be a potent tool in tackling conflict, particularly trans-border terror.

Preface & ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Contents

The Writers

  Introduction
1.

Conflict Resolution: The Social Sciences As Force Multipliers

  AJAI SAHNI
2. Can Political Science Be A Tool For Understanding And Resolving Conflicts?
  SWARAN SINGH
3. Track-2 And Counter-Insurgency
  GEN (RETD) J J SINGH
4. Encounters In The Peace Process: The Moral
  Economy Of Counter-insurgency
  PRASENJIT BISWAS
5. Diplomacy As A Tool To Combat Trans-border Terror: The ULFA Case
  WASBIR HUSSAIN
6. Political Science Research Capacity In Northeast India
  APURBA K. BARUAH
7. Civil Society In India’s Northeast: Can It Still Help Resolve Conflict In The Region?
  PATRICIA MUKHIM
8. Journalism In A Conflict Zone: A View From India’s Northeast
  SUBIR BHAUMIK
9. Civil Liberty: A Victim Of Actions By The State And Non-state Armed Groups In Northeast India
  KHAKCHANG DEBBARMA
10. Conflict Management vis-à-vis Conflict Transformation:
Some Reflections From Northeast India
  DR NANI GOPAL MAHANTA
11. Diffusion Of Technology In Maintaining Peace
  And Public Order With Community Policing
  DR TAPAN CHAKRABORTY
12. Why Does The State Fail To Tackle Terror And
  Insurgency? Perspective From Northeast India
  DR AKHIL RANJAN DUTTA
13. Conceptualizing Gender, Peace And Conflict:
  The Assam Case
  DOLLY PHUKON
 

Order in Chaos: Essays on Conflict in India’s Northeast and the Road to Peace in South Asia –edited by Wasbir Hussain. Spectrum Publications, Guwahati/New Delhi (2006), pages 175, Price 596 (ISBN 81-8344-018-5)

About the Book

South Asia is among the world’s ethnic hotspots where groups of people are perennially engaged in the quest for identity or nationality formation, often taking recourse to violent armed uprisings against the states. India’s Northeast, wedged between Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and China’s Tibet region, is a microcosm of all the problems and challenges facing South Asia today.

The book takes stock of the conflicts in South Asia as a whole, while going into the specific problems facing Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, besides the complex issues of insurgency and trans-border terror in India’s Northeast. It also looks at the prospects or the possibility of an economic integration of India’s far eastern frontier with the booming economies in the South Asian neighbourhood.

The writers, all well-known experts on the South Asian peace and conflict scenario, analyses the conflicts, detailing their various dimensions and documenting facts, both known and unknown, in perspective. The essays give readers a broad picture of the prevailing situation in South Asia and can be of help to peace-makers and governments alike as they embark on the road to peace.

 

Contents

Preface

The Writers

SECTION I

Introduction

SECTION II

The South Asian Scenario

1. Conflict Dynamics in South Asia and Approach to Peace
  SRIDHAR K. KHATRI
2. Bangladesh: Challenges to Peace
  SHAHEDUL ANAM KHAN
3. Sri Lanka: Negotiating the Road to Peace
  AMEEN IZZADEEN
4. Nepal : Governance Vs Insurgent Politics
  RAM S. MAHAT

SECTION III

India’s Northeast: The Challenges

5. Challenges of Peace Building in India’s Northeast: A Holistic Perspective
  PARTHA S. GHOSH
6. Insurgency sans Borders: An Analysis of Separatist Insurrections in India’s Northeast
  WASBIR HUSSAIN
7. Negotiating Insurgency and Holding On To Peace in Mizoram
  L.T. PUDAITE
8. Ethno-Nationalism in India’s Northeast
  BINALAKSHMI NEPRAM
9. Militancy and Education
  INDIRA GOSWAMI
10. Transnational Connections with South and South-east Asian Neighbours: Scenario from Northeast India
  NANI G. MAHANTA