Academic and Reference Books

At the dawn of the 21st century the specter of terror has come to haunt the minds of the citizenary and policymakers alike. Three reasons seem to be responsible for this. Firstly, the empowering status of non-state entities. Secondly, the easy availability of deadly, weaponry, including the knowledge of turning grocery items into improvised explosive devices. And thirdly, the arrival of suicide bombers priding on civilian targets, and that again, with an aggressiveness primarily grounded in faith rather than on reason.

Sri Lanka at independence in 1948 was an oasis of stability, peace and security. It was a shining example of parliamentary democracy in the Third World. During the 1980s, however, violent ethnic conflict, emergency rule, the manipulation of the electoral process and the erosion of the welfare safety-net transformed Sri Lanka into a highly volatile locus of ethno-political conflict with severe human security deficit. The book explores the symbiotic relationship between traditional and human security in Sri Lanka in academic as well as in practical terms.

This study narrates the context and complexity of the state-society relations in Nepal and puts the socio-economic and political situation of Nepal into perspective against the background of the emerging discourses on non-traditional security. Nepali state, which is traditionally seized by the misgovernance of its political leaderships, has never been sensitive towards the dignity of its citizenry.

This book includes selected papers on crop suitability and agricultural development based on the author's extensive experience with soils and agricultural development in Bangladesh. Written between 1974 and 1989, the papers range from popular journal articles to formal reports to Government. The successive chapters, updated by footnotes, provide a realistic appraisal of the opportunities for increasing agricultural production in Bangladesh's diverse environments.