This authoritative, thorough volume covers a broad range of topics from history to culture to current struggles in these fascinating countries. Often overshadowed on the world stage by issues surrounding India and Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh are nonetheless vital players in this theater of Asia. Nepal and Bangladesh brings a refreshing level of clarity to a wide variety of topics surrounding both nations including history, current affairs, business and economics, culture, literature, political science, and travel. Written in a voice that speaks to general audiences from secondary instructors to interested business people and travelers to the region, this handbook paints a portrait of both countries that is at once complete and accessible. Beginning with far-reaching narrative histories of both nations the text also contains a compendium of important people and events and concludes with an exhaustive reference section.
This two-volume report synthesizes the Asian Developments Bank's extensive research on the topic of human trafficking in Asia. Undertaken to help Asian nations better understand the dynamics of trafficking and to identify the root causes of the practice, this work features analysis of regional legal frameworks, contributing factors, and vulnerabilities. A supplementary report, "Guide for Integrating Trafficking Concerns, provides a series of steps that could be employed to limit trafficking.
This companion provides broad and in-depth insights into family business in Asia and how Asian family firms navigate in the digital economy. The first part of the book looks at key concepts of family business while the second part presents Asian family firms’ cases from Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and other Asian economies. This comprehensive reference will help readers understand how family firms in Asia compete and survive in the world market especially in the digital age and why and how Asian economies can emerge as one of the most dynamic regions in the world.
Boundaries are manifestations of national identity. They can be trip-wires of war. This is all the more important if the involved parties are nuclear powers. It threatens to inflame long-standing boundary disputes that India has with China, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. This book attempts to examine all the major aspects of these disputes. Going deep into their historical legacies, it discusses at length their causes, consequences and the ways to how to solve them.
The Routledge Handbook of South Asian Politics examines key issues in politics of the five independent states of the South Asian region: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Written by experts in their respective areas, this Handbook introduces the reader to the politics of South Asia by presenting the prevailing agreements and disagreements in the literature. In the first two sections, the Handbook provides a comprehensive introduction to the modern political history of the states of the region and an overview of the independence movements in the former colonial states. The other sections focus on the political changes that have occurred in the postcolonial states since independence, as well as the successive political changes in Nepal during the same period, and the structure and functioning of the main governmental and non-governmental institutions, including the structure of the state itself (unitary or federal), political parties, the judiciary, and the military. Further, the contributors explore several aspects of the political process and political and economic change, especially issues of pluralism and national integration, political economy, corruption and criminalization of politics, radical and violent political movements, and the international politics of the region as a whole. This unique reference work provides a comprehensive survey of the state of the field and is an invaluable resource for students and academics interested in South Asian Studies, South Asian Politics, Comparative Politics and International Relations.
In the tradition of Iron and Silk and Touch the Dragon, Jamie Zeppa’s memoir of her years in Bhutan is the story of a young woman’s self-discovery in a foreign land. It is also the exciting début of a new voice in travel writing. When she left for the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan in 1988, Zeppa was committing herself to two years of teaching and a daunting new experience. A week on a Caribbean beach had been her only previous trip outside Canada; Bhutan was on the other side of the world, one of the most isolated countries in the world known as the last Shangri-La, where little had changed in centuries and visits by foreigners were restricted. Clinging to her bags full of chocolate, hair conditioner and Immodium, she began the biggest challenge of her life, with no idea she would fall in love with the country and with a Bhutanese man, end up spending nine years in Bhutan, and begin a literary career with her account of this transformative journey. At her first posting in a remote village of eastern Bhutan, she is plunged into an overwhelmingly different culture with squalid Third World conditions and an impossible language. Her house has rats and fleas and she refuses to eat the local food, fearing the rampant deadly infections her overly protective grandfather warned her about. Gradually, however, her fear vanishes. She adjusts, begins to laugh, and is captivated by the pristine mountain scenery and the kind students in her grade 2 class. She also begins to discover for herself the spiritual serenity of Buddhism. A transfer to the government college of Sherubtse, where the housing conditions are comparatively luxurious and the students closer to her own age, gives her a deeper awareness of Bhutan’s challenges: the lack of personal privacy, the pressure to conform, and the political tensions. However, her connection to Bhutan intensifies when she falls in love with a student, Tshewang, and finds herself pregnant. After a brief sojourn in Canada to give birth to her son, Pema Dorji, she marries Tshewang and makes Bhutan her home for another four years. Zeppa’s personal essay about her culture shock on arriving in Bhutan won the 1996 CBC/Saturday Night literary competition and appeared in the magazine. She flew home to accept the prize, where people encouraged her to pursue her writing. Her letters from Bhutan also featured on CBC’s Morningside. The book that grew out of this has been published in Canada and the United States to ecstatic reviews, followed by British, German, Dutch, Italian and Spanish editions. Although cultural differences finally separated Jamie and Tshewang in 1997 while she was writing the book and she returned to Canada, she will always feel at home in Bhutan. Zeppa shares her compelling insights into this land and culture, but Beyond the Sky and the Earth is more than a travel book. With rich, spellbinding prose and bright humour, it describes a personal journey in which Zeppa acquires a deeper understanding of what it means to leave one’s home behind, and undergoes a spiritual transformation.
Birdwatchers have long waited for a comprehensive and up-to-date identification guide for the Indian subcontinent. This exhaustively researched and beautifully produced book will finally meet that need. Written by three leading experts on the region--Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp, and Tim Inskipp--the book provides complete information about the 1,300 species of birds found in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. The guide is firmly rooted in the authors' extensive field experience, reflected in the accuracy and fullness of their bird descriptions. The guide features more than 150 color plates by eminent bird illustrators from Europe and India that depict all the species in the region, ranging from the Himalayan Snowcock in the north to the Sri Lanka Spurfowl in the south. The plates include all relevant identifiable subspecies, as well as ages and sexes. The text consists of a detailed identification section, discussing the differences between similar species and containing descriptions of vocalizations, habits, habitat, breeding, distribution, and status. There are distributional maps for nearly all species. And the authors' introduction provides useful background information about such subjects as conservation, the history of ornithology on the subcontinent, and the climate. A detailed bibliography provides an introduction to the prolific literature on the subcontinent. This is a landmark publication that will be enthusiastically welcomed by all birdwatchers with an interest in the extraordinary variety of birds in this vast and diverse region.
There are several small states around the world in terms of their sizes, population, economy and military strength. It is difficult to define a "small state" or a "small power" because the smallness or greatness of a country is a relative concept. However, scholars have attempted to do so.
An exploration of the birdlife of northern India and Pakistan. The plates are accompanied by text that highlights the identification, voice, habitat, altitudinal range, distribution and status of the birds. The text is on pages facing the plates, and there are distribution maps for every species.
