Nepal Study Center / Liberal Democracy Nepal Project
Dr. Alok Bohara
http://peacejournalism.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=1022
I also talked about the Liberal Democracy Nepal project. The LDN project brings together political leaders, policy makers, civil society members, and the grassroots level people within a common forum (on the web) to discuss and comment on issues related to promoting liberal democracy in Nepal. We define liberal democracy broadly to mean a system that values regular elections, multi-party system, social justice, protection of ethnic and political minorities, and the rule of law. The LDN project also intends to publish a journal two times a year. The LDN project is very proud to have received an endorsement by an intellectual giant like Noam Chomsky of MIT. This project is a result of collaboration between the North American Diaspora and the Nepal Study Center.
I also notified the audience that the LDN idea would be discussed extensively by the North American Diaspora during a meeting with the Nepali Ambassador (HE Mr. Shrestha) in Washington DC (January 29th, 2005).
(The power point did not work so I had to do the presentation extemporaneously.)
From the floor, an audience member expressed his uneasiness with the word liberal in front of the word democracy. I gave several examples as to why it was important to demonstrate that the concept of democracy was an evolutionary idea and the word ?liberal? is not meant to diminish the universal ideal of democracy.
