LEO E.ROSE
Rediscovering Nepal
Professor Leo. E Rose, 80, who had done monumental works on Nepal died a month ago
By KESHAB POUDEL
“To His Majesty King Mahendra Vir Vikram Shaha Deva, King of Nepal, and Sri Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala, the first elected Prime Minister of Nepal”
Two Nepali leaders who, although placed at opposite end of the political spectrum by a not too uncommon irony of Nepali history, are in a real sense the two most important co-authors of Nepali Political acculturation surveyed in this book.
What late Leo. E Rose, an American scholar wrote in his book Democratic Innovation in Nepal A Case Study of Political Acculturation printed in 1966 perfectly presenting two political leaders of Nepal where highly segmented, traditional society begins to experiment with modern, basically alien political concepts in order to accelerate national development, is still valid. Rose, a renowned scholar of South Asia at the University of California Berkley, died a month ago following a long ailment. His contribution to Nepal and Nepalese society will always be remembered. The death of Rose, who had the experiences of meeting Nepal’s almost all political leaders till 1990s, is an irrecoverable loss to Nepal also.
Many people come and go but some people maintain important contribution to the study of particular country. Nepal, too, has seen many friends but few of them are always remembered and respected for their contribution to Nepal.
Although individual character has changed from one to another, the problems faced by Nepal in the course of modernization are still valid as what Rose observed in his book. Several western and other authors have written books about Nepal. From the first writer colonel Kirck Pattrick to many others, Leo Rose’s contribution to describe Nepal’s complicated problem is unique as well as based on reality.
Rose has written several books on Nepal and South Asia but his first book written with Nepali scholar Bhuwan Lal Joshi is one of the best books ever written analyzing traditional and modern values of society. In his other book, Strategy for Survival, Rose also explains Nepal’s geo-strategic vulnerability and Nepal’s difficult quest to survive as an independent nation between two big Asian powers India and China.
In describing Nepal’s transformation, Rose highlighted the conflict between traditional institution and modern institution in the period between 1950 and 1990. From the revolution of 1950 to dissolution of elected government led by B.P.Koirala and then introduction of Panchayat system then the restoration of democracy in 1990, Rose had seen all the political developments of Nepal as a close observer. The former lecturer of political science at the University of California – Berkeley, Rose has also co-authored a book “The Politics of Nepal: Persistence and Change in an Asian Monarchy.”
Rose, in an interview to Spotlight in 1994, described the on going political squabble in the Nepali Congress “as natural phenomenon of political process.”
Nepal Strategy for Survival is another important contribution of Rose to Nepal. Published in 1971, the book discusses Nepal’s quest for survival as an independent nation. Rose analyzes Nepal’s limitation on foreign policy issues. “Because of Nepal’s preoccupation with mere survival, its foreign policy inevitably has psychological orientation different from that of larger states, including India and China, whose physical attributes are in themselves a fairly reliable guarantee of security. To Kathmandu, the current potentialities of external domination and subversion are not very different in kind – though they may be in degree- from those with which Nepali governments have had to contend for at least two centuries. And if the problems are not particularly new, neither is the repertory of response devised by Kathmandu authorities There is a basic similarity between King Prithivi Naryan Shah’s analysis of Nepal’s role in the Himalayan area and his selection of tactics and that of the Ninth ruler in his dynasty, King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shaha Dev,” Rose describes in his book Strategy of Survival.
Although there are many so-called experts in different parts of the world and there are several Nepalese scholars who claim to be Nepal expert, Rose is among a few ones who perfectly described Nepal’s status in the region. The death of Rose is a great loss to Nepal.
