Tibetan Democracy

How do you govern 130,000 people from exile? Tibet - and the struggles of diaspora Tibetans - are elements of an ongoing and highly debated issue. The Dalai Lama's democratisation process during his time in India from 1959-2011, and the subsequent election of Lobsang Sangay as prime minister-in-exile, marked to the Tibetan people the move away from a seemingly feudal societal structure and traditional theocratic governance. Central to these Tibetan democracy aspirations is the 'freedom struggle' in which Tibetans dream of an ideal politics which includes both Tibetans residing in Tibet and those in exile, with the ultimate goal of returning to a self-ruled Tibet. However, some have questioned whether the fight for democracy has helped or hindered a united and free Tibet. To elucidate this complex debate Trine Brox has undertaken extensive fieldwork investigating how democracy is viewed and practised amongst Tibetans in exile. In so doing, she explores how the Tibetans living in India imagine, organise and negotiate governance that is modern and democratic, but uniquely Tibetan. This is an important book for those with an interest in Tibet, diaspora communities and democracy.

An insightful account of how the democratically elected parliamentary system is built with the Tibetan elders who accompanied His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama into exile, this book is a fruitful result of several years of hard work and research. The interviews of the elders vividly depict the struggles and challenges it took to become today’s Democratic Tibetan government. Sparking the feeling of duty towards a nation, there cannot be a better driver of encouragement than the messages left by these elders who are the building blocks of the Tibetan democracy for the future leaders of Tibet. ‘The Tibetan Journey to Democracy’ is a marvelous portrayal of the journey of Tibetan democracy right from its inception till date and holds the power to inspire thousands of Tibetans towards shaping the future of political history of Tibet. Tenzin Wangmo

This book discusses the emergence of democracy's modernizing force in an exiled community with a political history based on a feudal theocracy. Since his exile almost forty years ago, the Dalai Lama and his government-in-exile have steered this fledgling democratic community toward the fulfillment of his dream of converting a theocracy to a democracy. The establishment of a tripartite government with separate powers and the development of a framework for a future democratic polity - if and when Tibetans regain their land - is a testament to the ongoing democratizing revolution.

This book provides a detailed account of the structure and political strategies of the Tibetan government-in exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), in northern India. Since its founding in 1959, it has been led by the 14th Dalai Lama who struggles to regain the Tibetan homeland. Based on a theoretical approach on exile organizations – and extensive empirical studies in Asia – this book discusses CTA’s political strategies to gain national loyalty, and international support, in order to secure its own organizational survival and the ultimate goal: the return to Tibet. The book is organized around the two fundamental questions: firstly, how the CTA fosters its claims to be the sole representative of all Tibetans over the last decades in exile; and, secondly, which policies have been carried out in order to regain the homeland. The book is divided into four substantial chapters: the historical background, providing a review of pre-1959 political Tibet a theoretical section which covers the critical position of exile organizations an examination of the exile Tibetan community and government from the early years an analysis of crucial CTA policies. Innovative and unique, this book combines a political science approach with Tibetan studies to analyse exile-Tibetan politics in particular, and exile governments in general.

Could democracy realistically address the problems in China's national identity? Baogang He opens up a dialogue in which Chinese liberals can offer viable alternatives in defence of key democratic principles and governance.

How do you govern 130,000 people from exile? Tibet - and the struggles of diaspora Tibetans - are elements of an ongoing and highly debated issue. The Dalai Lama's democratisation process during his time in India from 1959-2011, and the subsequent election of Lobsang Sangay as prime minister-in-exile, marked to the Tibetan people the move away from a seemingly feudal societal structure and traditional theocratic governance. Central to these Tibetan democracy aspirations is the 'freedom struggle' in which Tibetans dream of an ideal politics which includes both Tibetans residing in Tibet and those in exile, with the ultimate goal of returning to a self-ruled Tibet. However, some have questioned whether the fight for democracy has helped or hindered a united and free Tibet. To elucidate this complex debate Trine Brox has undertaken extensive fieldwork investigating how democracy is viewed and practised amongst Tibetans in exile. In so doing, she explores how the Tibetans living in India imagine, organise and negotiate governance that is modern and democratic, but uniquely Tibetan. This is an important book for those with an interest in Tibet, diaspora communities and democracy.

Historically treated as an amorphous borderland and marginal to the understanding of democratic politics and governance in South Asia, Southeast Asia and northern Asia, the Himalayan region, in the last 50 years, has become an ‘active political laboratory’ for experiments in democratic structures and institutions. In turn, it has witnessed the evolution of myriad political ideologies, movements and administrative strategies to accommodate and pacify heterogeneous ethnic-national identities. Routeing Democracy in the Himalayas highlights how, through an ongoing process of democratisation, the Western liberal ideologies of democracy and decentralisation have interacted with varied indigenous politico-cultural ideas and institutions of an ethnic-nationally diverse population. It also reviews how formal democracy, regular elections, local self-governing structures, protection of the rights of minorities and indigenes, freedom of expression, development of mass media and formation of ethnic homelands — all have furthered participatory democracy, empowered the traditionally marginalised groups and ensured sustainable development to varying degrees. The book provides ethnographic and historical vistas of democracy under formation, at work, being contested and even being undermined, showing how democratisation thematically stitches the independent Himalayan nations and the Indian Himalayan states into a distinctive regional political mosaic. Combining new perspectives from comparative sociology, political anthropology and development studies, the volume will be useful for policy makers, as well as specialists, researchers and students in sociology, anthropology, area studies, development studies, and Tibet and Himalayan studies.