Regionalism and National Unity in Nepal – Frederick H. Gaige

REGIONALISM AND NATIONAL UNITY IN NEPAL
Regionalism and National Unity in Nepal is Frederick H. Gaige’s acclaimed study of the Tarai and the Nepali state’s misdirected and ineffectual attempts at integrating the region into the national mainstream. The primary theme of the book remains as relevant today despite the many social, political and economic developments Nepal has experienced since it was first published half a century ago.
Thirty-four years after it was first published, Frederick Gaige’s Regionalism and National Unity in Nepal remains the single best introduction to the socio-political context of Tarai politics.
On the first edition
– Arjun Guneratne in the ‘Introduction’ (to the 2009 edition)
With its facts and figures…[this book) will provide useful background information to people interested in the economics of the tarai, as well as Nepalese politics.
-Patricia Caplan, Journal of Asian Studies
The book is a major contribution to our knowledge of Nepal.
-Werner Levi, Pacific Affairs
[Gaige’s] central thesis is that, while the terai is heavily exploited, serving as both grainbasket and industrial centre, and is thus clearly crucial to Nepal’s economic survival, it remains politically marginal, its population unintegrated into the national decision- making process which nevertheless affects them directly. The contradictions associated with this situation of regional exploitation, combined with political marginalization, must be resolved if Nepal is to have a future.