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Showing posts from March, 2023

Democracy As Geopolitical Commodity

 Yuba Nath Lamsal Democracy of late has figured as a geopolitical commodity in the 21st century’s world order with the United States and China coming face to face in the bid for enlarging strategic sphere. With Washington claiming to have led the democratic world against what it calls the ‘closed societies’ referring to China and Russia, a new kind of global polarisation or a new Cold War has resurfaced.   The Westphalian world order that has been in place since 1648 seems to be crumbling, but it is not known what exactly will replace it. In the face off between the existing superpower and the emerging superpower, the US-led Western bloc takes liberal democracy as a tool to malign the China-Russia axis, while China is critical of the Western model of democracy. This is not merely a rivalry between the two big powers but a clash of two civilisations— oriental civilisation versus Western civilisation.  Fundamental feature In this unique contestation of internationa

Ripples Of China’s Two Sessions

 Yuba Nath Lamsal All eyes were on China last week as Beijing was abuzz with hustles and bustles of the ‘Two Sessions’. The  ‘Two Sessions’ are the annual gatherings of the National People’s Congress, (NPC) and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The NPC is China’s supreme legislative body or parliament while the CPPCC an apex political consultative council having more advisory, supervisory and coordinating role. In China, the two sessions are always significant political events. But the events are more significant this time as these bodies have made political and policy decisions having greater ramification on China’s internal political and economic life as well as international landscape at a time when China is growing at a faster speed to challenge the west-dominated world order and create the new one. The NPC elected Xi Jingping country’s President, General Secretary of the Communist Party and Chairman of Central Military Council f