The Price of Neglect: From Resource Conflict to Maoist Insurgency in the Himalayan Kingdom

Bishnu Upreti’s book, The Price of Neglect: From Resource Conflict to Maoist Insurgency in the Himalayan Kingdom was published in 2004, just as the Maoist insurgency was reaching a fever pitch and violence was spreading to the capital, Kathmandu. In the book’s first six chapters, Upreti offers an introduction to resource conflict, covering theories of conflict and their application to environmental resources such as water and forests. The author uses examples to demonstrate the importance of resource conflict’s cultural context; for example, those seeking to understand the conflict over the Asian Development Bank-funded irrigation project in Andherikhola must consider the Hindu caste system, which is still prevalent in Nepal. South Asian graduate students will find this contextualized introduction to resource conflicts most useful—and affordable too, since the book was published in Nepal.