In it's most apparent dimension, this book is a very effective biography of the JVP movement - the lives and tragedies of Sri Lanka's most fearsome insurrection. Sri Lanka - The lost revolution? describes events during a tragic period of our country. The upheaval shook the nation to its very foundation and traumatised an entire generation. No other account of the events that have taken place…
Nepal and India are not only non-aligned nations belonging to the third world; but are also bastions of traditional conservatism going through a process of hectic change and transformation. They share a common culture, values, and socio-religious traditions and are going through a rapid social and technological changes as the world prepares itself to step in to the shoes of the twenty-first cen…
Pakistan - with its political instability, vociferous Islamic community, pressing economic and social problems, access to nuclear weapons, and proximity to Afghanistan - stands at the very center of global attention. Can General Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler, control the forces that helped create the Taliban in Afghanistan? In this book, journalist Owen Bennett Jones looks at Pakistan's …
Melamed considers all the major power players in the Middle East, explains the underlying issues, and creates a three-dimensional picture, an illustration that connects the dots and provides a fascinating roadmap. He elucidates developments such as the Arab Spring, the downfall of the Muslim Brotherhood, the rise of ISIS, the epic Sunni-Shiite animosity, the essence of the war in Syria, the rol…
Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Consensus document of the Shramaya/United Nations University South Asian perspectives group on nation building in Sri Lanka 3. Political crisis 4. Identity conflicts 5. Nation-building: A Muslim perspectives 6. Plantation-village integration 7. Nation building through the process of constitutional reform
The Middle East is notorious in the West for many reasons, few of them are positive. Synonymous with terrorism, oil riches, bad governance, corruption, and conflict, it has led many Western commentators to write it off as both backward and insular. In this pioneering introduction, Oxford University's Philip Robins argues that the region is plagued by the same problems that afflict the rest of …
After five centuries of colonial rule, Sri Lanka became independent in 1948 and the Republic was founded in 1972. An interesting ethnic mix coexists in the country including 74% Sinhalese, 12.6% Tamil, 5.5 % of Indian Tamils, 7.1% of Moors and 0.3% of Malaysians (also Muslims), 0.3 of "Burghers" (citizens of European origin) and 0.3% of other origins. The four main religions are represented in …
Although Pakistan achieved independence in 1947, it still has not succeeded in integrating its diverse peoples into a nation as its short yet turbulent history vividly demonstrates. The nation's search for stability is traced in this new introduction to Pakistan's political, economic and social development. New chapters detail political developments since 1991, including the elections of 1993 a…
In 1979, seemingly overnight, moving at a clip some thirty years faster than the rest of the world, Iran became the first revolutionary theocracy in modern times. Since then, the country has been largely a black box to the West, a sinister presence looming over the horizon. But inside Iran, a breathtaking drama has unfolded since then, as religious thinkers, political operatives, poets, journal…
Contents: 1. The prologue 2. The protracted war 3. The crux of the problem 4. The quest for peace 5. The epilogue