Bücher der Reihe Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series

Offers historically-based analysis of the origin, evolution and potential resolution of the civil conflict in Sri Lanka over the struggle to establish a separate state in its Northern and Eastern provinces. This book presents a conceptual framework useful for comparative global conflict analysis and resolution.

The period between 2001 and 2006 saw the rise and fall of an internationally supported effort to bring a protracted violent conflict in Sri Lanka to a peaceful resolution. This book provides an analytical starting point for exploring the complex interactions between international and domestic players during the war-peace-war period.

The book deals with the dynamics and growth of a violent 21st century communist rebellion initiated by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), explaining the different causes, factors that contributed to its growth, strategies employed by the rebels and the state, and the consequences of the insurgency.

Through historical analysis, this book assesses the ideological articulation of the contemporary ultra-left movement in India, including Maoism which is expanding gradually in India. It argues that Maoism provides critical inputs for an alternative paradigm for development, relevant for transitional societies.

Analyzes both the economic and cultural sides to globalization in India. This book reveals the complexity of the globalization process and describes the contradictory attitudes of the lower middle classes. It is suitable for students working in the fields of Sociology, Social Anthropology and Development Studies.

Examining spatial transformations in Bangalore, one of India's fastest growing cities, this book highlights the influence of information and communications technology (ICT) development on the city.

Hailed as the beneficiary, driving force and result of globalisation, Indiäs middle-class is puzzling in its diversity, as a multitude of traditions, social formations and political constellations manifest contribute to this project. This book looks at Indian middle-class lifestyles through a number of case studies, ranging from a historical account detailing the making of a savvy middle-class consumer in the late colonial period, to saving clubs among women in Delhi¿s upmarket colonies and the dilemmas of entrepreneurial families in Tamil Nadu¿s industrial towns.

This volume explores various new forms, objects and modes of circulation that sustain this renovated form of Orientalism in South Asian culture. The contributors identify and engage with pressing recent debates about postcolonial South Asian identity politics, discussing a range of different texts and films such as The White Tiger, Bride & Prejudice and Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has attracted global attention. Presenting the first analysis of CSR in India, this book shows the unique roots of the concept in India: Gandhi's philosophical moorings that inform India's approach to CSR, and the role of civil society in setting an agenda championing the rights of the stakeholders.

Compulsory land acquisition and involuntary displacement of communities for a larger public purpose captures the tension of development in the modern state, with the need to balance the interests of the majority while protecting the rights of the minority.This book examines a number of new policy formulations put in place at both the central and state levels looking at land acquisition procedures and norms for rehabilitation and resettlement of communities.

Confronts the distinction between women's increasing wealth as a consequence of the success of microcredit programmes and their apparent non-commensurate empowerment, looking at two organisations as they operate in two localities in rural Bangladesh, in order to discover how enrichment and empowerment are often confused.

Examines the challenges confronting trade unions in the global South, focusing on trade union struggles in Sri Lanka under neo-liberal globalisation. This book centres on movement politics of unions; explains union capacities to mobilise workers as a part of broad counter movement; and, specifies worker struggles in Sri Lanka.

Analyses the relationship between cinema and modernity in Bangladesh. This book investigates the roles of a non-western 'national' film industry in Asia in constructing nationhood and identity within colonial and postcolonial predicaments, and analyses the political, economic and cultural forces that have been active in shaping Bangladesh cinema.

Examining how NGOs operate in Southern India in the early 2000's, this book discusses the challenges faced by small, local NGOs in the uncertain times of changing aid dynamics. It focuses on what empowerment means for Indian women, and how NGO accountability to these groups is an important part of the empowerment.

A comprehensive analysis of the Kerala Model of Social Development to date. Using an interdisciplinary approach, it sheds light on the paradoxes of the Indian state and critiques its model of economic development.

Assesses the impact of liberalization on practices of government and relations between state and society. Focusing on what specifically has changed about the state after liberalization in India, this volume deals with comparative questions about the process of neoliberal restructuring across the world.

In 1971, a war in Pakistan resulted in the division of the country and the creation of Bangladesh. This book examines how literature by those who remained Pakistanis acts as a cultural response to the threat the war posed to a nationalist identity, exploring issues of the domestic sphere and the family, and the territorial limits of citizenship.

Focuses on primary education in India and interrogates what schooling means and does to children from weaker sections of Indian society and which values underpin the school system. This book presents the multiple ways in which social class impinges on the educational system, educational processes and educational outcomes.

Explores the aftermath of the tsunami in Sri Lanka, where coastal communities that are significantly different in terms of social structure, economy, language, religion, kinship, and cultural identity were affected. This book analyses regional and ethnic patterns of post-tsunami reconstruction according to different sectors of Sri Lankan society.

Argues that ethnic politics have the potential to strengthen rather than destabilize democracy. This book studies one of Nepal's most significant social movements and examines the role it has played in the process of democratization in Nepal. It demonstrates that ethnic parties are not antithetical to democracy.

Drawing on Himalayan ethnography to interrogate and critique contemporary theorizing about the environment, this book examines how the environment is conceptualized among different social groups in the region. It introduces the thinking in environmental anthropology and geography into the study of the Himalaya.

Offers an explanation for the recurrence of hung parliaments and minority governments in India. This book includes the Indian case study that provides lessons for the role of the centre in multiparty electoral and parliamentary competition and the political consequences of the first-past-the-post electoral system throughout the world.