How far, how near
Mostly visible in social media like Facebook, there is a class of Nepalis who delight in commenting on global events in Timbuktu to Tokyo with much sound and fury. These people, however, have little to say when it comes to Nepal's own domestic, or, by extension, foreign policy. These people are mostly young and one can understand their desire to have a say in global affairs although their understanding tends to be shallow and knee jerk.
There is another group of Nepalis, middle-aged and older, who also like to comment on international issues. They hold prominent positions in Nepal's bureaucracy or other government agencies but are totally oblivious to their own responsibilities. A member of the National Human Rights Commission, for example, regularly sends op-ed articles to The Kathmandu Post regarding things like, among others, the massacre in Norway, and the definition of crime in modern society. The said person, however, has nothing to declare publicly about the infuriating state of impunity, the disappeared, or, for that matter, why the commissioners of the body with the responsibility to safeguard Nepalis' human rights cannot even sit together for a meeting because of personal, egoistical reasons.
Hira Bahadur Thapa falls, largely but not strictly, in the latter group of people. As the back jacket of his latest book Diplomacy in the Changing World says, he is "a careerist of Nepal's foreign service for about thirty years…was Officiating Foreign Secretary in 2006 and was later appointed foreign policy advisor to the Prime Minister." With such credentials my hope was that Thapa would dig deep into the intricacies of Nepal's foreign policy in recent times, especially since he was an advisor to then-Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who went to Parliament and accused India of playing an instrumental role in creating the environment that forced Dahal to step down from the prime minister's chair. Nor does Thapa talk about the salience of China in foreign policy from the time Prithvi Narayan Shah's conquests onwards. In his 30 years of foreign service, Thapa presumably witnessed all the major power plays from powers great, regional, and small, that have influenced Nepal's position in the world map. An analysis of these events, however, do not find space in his latest book.
What Thapa does discuss are events that are truly global and contemporary. This, obviously, includes the issue of Palestine and Israel. During the last General Assembly meeting, the Palestine Authority, decided that negotiations with Israel were leading nowhere and, impatient for statehood, formally requested the UN to accept it as an independent state. The measure was opposed by the US
government led by Barack Obama and other mostly Western powers, and failed. But it did succeed in bringing global attention, once again, to the Palestinian cause. Other issues discussed in the same chapter on the Arab Spring include the revolution in Egypt, the escalating turmoil in Syria and other dictatorships in the so-called Middle East.
At first thought, what happens in Egypt, Palestine, or Libya seems of tangential interest to Nepal, but a closer examination of the response from the powers, big and small, to these events suggest otherwise. On the chapter on humanitarian intervention, Thapa frequently discusses the intervention in Libya by France, Italy, US, and others to topple Gaddafi's government. The "no-fly" resolution obtained in the Security Council by these powers, Thapa argues, did not include regime change. Intervention in the name of humanitarianism has many advocates, including, strangely enough, development economists like Paul Collier. The interventionists have developed a wonderful doctrine called the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), a principle that argues that sovereignty is a privilege of nations, that nations have a responsibility to protect their citizens from mass atrocities, and if they fail to do so, the international community has a responsibility to intervene. Understandably, advocates of humanitarian intervention cheered the Security Council resolution on no-fly zone in Libya as an endorsement of R2P.
Thapa disagrees. He argues that R2P has no legitimacy based on the UN charter which "approves military action only for the purpose of promoting peace and collective security." He is not the only one, however. Many non-Western and "third-world" countries are suspicious of R2P. Thapa cites the Chinese Foreign Minister's response to the bombing of Kosovo back in 1998-1999 to illustrate the opposition to R2P—"human rights taking precedence over sovereignty and humanitarian intervention seem to be in vogue these days threatening to wreak havoc in international relations."
The discussion on R2P is just an illustration of how global norms like the R2P can have far reaching effects on militarily weak nations. For example, about seven years ago, when the insurgency in Nepal was at its peak, there were calls from various quarters begging for UN intervention. Had Nepal been strategically more important, or more resourceful, or had the conflict taken uglier turns, it would not have been as easy to rule out intervention by foreign militaries.
Besides the Arab Spring, humanitarian intervention and terrorism, Thapa also discusses the issue on nuclear safety in some detail. The Fukushima disaster last year is a harsh reminder to the world about the dangers of nuclear technology even when it is meant for civilian purpose. As Thapa suggests, it is certainly possible that a nuclear accident like Chernobyl might occur in India, a country that has
relentlessly pursued nuclear technology for both civilian and military purposes. Besides, there is a doomsday scenario of a nuclear confrontation between either India or Pakistan, or India and China. The accidents and war, should they occur, are going to affect us profoundly. Therefore, logically, the issue should not be ignored by our government.
Despite the serious flaw of not being rich in local context, Thapa's book, on the whole, is a handy book for those wishing to get acquainted with the topical global issues that, for better or worse (usually worse), affect everyone.
Adhikari tweets at @saatdobato
Posted on: 2012-02-11 09:11
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