News, Views From Nepal

Yuba Nath Lamsal:- The sixth summit meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Cooperation (BIMSTEC) was held on April 3-4 in Thailand with a declaration seeking to further foster integration and cooperation among members. The meeting in itself is a positive sign at a time when other regional organisations are faltering. The initiatives and resolve to promote cooperation among countries are good and positive. Regionalism and regional integration were once a general trend in the world, especially after World War II. Devastated by the war, the Western European countries realised the necessity of working together for the reconstruction of war-ravaged infrastructures, accelerating economic development. With this realisation, European countries paved the ground for creating a regional group in Europe. As a result, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands met in Paris, France, in 1951 and signed a treaty agreeing to establish the European Coal ...

Yuba Nath Lamsal: -- Abstract: ---- The global power structure continues to change which is a general phenomenon of history. These changes are marked by some phenomenal shifts in the international order. Wars shaped the world order and marked the shift of political power from one country to another and from one region to another. Europe at one point was the master and pivot of world power and politics, while the Europe-centric international power shifted to America after World War II with the United States dictating and the rest of the world taking notes. The Soviet Union, too, emerged as one of the superpowers but it could not sustain its prowess for a long time and collapsed in the early 1990s giving rise to a unipolar world order led by the United States. However, this international order too is in the process of change but it is not yet certain what shape the new world order will exactly take. However, it is certain that the Atlantic- centric world order and power will not last lon...

Yuba Nath Lamsal:-- Countries are like individuals. No single country resembles the other. States are different from one another on various accounts – physical size, geographical position, geopolitical significance, economic strength, military power and other characteristics. There are 193 countries in the world. The United Nations, however, has 195 members, of which 193 are full members while two - the Holy See and the State of Palestine — are non-member observer states of the United Nations. Some other entities claim to be sovereign states but they are not recognised as by the international community and are not allowed to join the UN despite their attempt and lobbying. The world is like a small global village owing mainly to greater economic and technological connectivity. No single country in the world is fully self-reliant on all accounts and they are, in one way or the other, dependent on others for various reasons. Countries thus cannot survive and prosper in isolation no m...