Post-Conflict Recovery and Peacebuilding in Nepal: Exploration of Economic and Social Reintegration of Maoist Ex-Combatants

Abstract

This thesis examines economic and social reintegration of Maoist ex-combatants and its impact on peacebuilding in Nepal. It applies a constructivist Grounded Theory approach to research in terms of both data collection and analysis. Data collection was carried out using key informant interviews and focus group discussions with both ex-combatant and non-combatant respondents. The interviews and focus group discussions were carried out in the Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Chitwan, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Dang, Banke and Kailali districts between September and December 2011, and between December 2012 and March 2013. The research conducted for this thesis established that the complex political environment that emerged, following the signing of the peace agreement on 21 November 2006, has had implications for the ways in which different sets of policy were developed to manage ex-combatants in Nepal. As a result, a hybrid DDR model, which is called "unconventional DDR" in this thesis, emerged.