Indian Summer Festival - The Future Society

Discussion on South Asian geopolitics moderated by Global TV reporter Jas Johal in conversation with Sudeep Chakravarti

Ceasefires and State Order-Making in Naga Northeast India

The 1997 Indo–Naga ceasefire is one of the world’s longest truces. Although formally-agreed rules technically regulate the state-rebel relationship, the rules themselves and their applicability beyond the Indian state of Nagaland are ambiguous and open to interpretation. Far from static, the ceasefire represents an evolving cluster of ‘armed orders’ oscillating between coexistence and limited conflict [Staniland, Paul. “Armed Politics and the Study of Intrastate Conflict,” Journal of Peace Research 54, no. 4 (July 1, 2017): 459–67. doi:10.1177/0022343317698848]. Indian state actors display intriguing variations in their approaches towards these orders, from restraint and de-escalation in some circumstances to aggressive local counterinsurgency in others. To date, however, existing research on order within ceasefires focus on rebel perspectives. Building on existing efforts to reconceptualise ceasefires as arenas in which political order is negotiated and constructed, this article re-introduces the state’s role in order-making, locating these processes within wider rebel and non-state attempts to do so. Analysing armed orders in the Naga ceasefire, it reveals a fascinating spectrum of bargaining, signalling and negotiation over the formal and informal rules of armed orders. This challenges the notion that ceasefires simply lock in state-armed group orders, but instead create new spaces for armed order’s renegotiation

A nation in exile : Tibetan diaspora and the dynamics of long-distance nationalism.

This essay is an attempt to explore the dynamics of Tibetan nationalism in diaspora. I do this from three perspectives. First, I examine the techniques of contemporary nationalist uprisings among displaced communities, and I argue that the nature and character of the nationalism-in-exile is determined to a great extent by the cooperation between the community within Tibet and those outside it. Secondly, I analyse the situation where a displaced community keeps the nationalism agenda alive in isolation. Specifically, I argue that beyond whatever situation may be present in the territory with a contested sovereignty, those in the diaspora always pursue a policy to establish links and ties--both clandestine and open--with their counterparts and work in tandem in order to facilitate their cause. Thirdly, I argue that fears of persecution cannot be a basis to non-engagement with those living in the contested territory: nationalist struggle is very much like a war, and it cannot be fought effectively from outside. In addition, the aspirations of the community concerned is likely to be compromised if those in the diaspora are overwhelmingly concentrated in one host country. Further, although traditional-legal or charismatic leadership is a great uniting factor and crucial to the vision of the diasporic community, excessive dependence on it can significantly alter the course of the nationalist aspiration