No abstract

No abstract

Public policies are proposed courses of action and governmental decisions to realise a specific objective in a specific sector. Policy is what the governments actually do and what subsequently happens and may involve some form of official action or inaction regarding any issue or problem. Currently, the focus of political science is shifting to public policy, to the description, analysis and explanation of the causes and consequences of governmental activity. Many political scientists believe that the study of public policy should be directed towards ensuring that governments adopt appropriate policies to attain certain transformatory changes or desirable social goals, notwithstanding the fact that substantial disagreement may exist in society over what constitutes appropriate methods of promoting public good at a given point of time. Given the policy experiments in the 20th century, we have realised that both 'scientism' and 'economism' have their inherent limitations. However, it cannot be denied that they need to be factored into any attempt at rational policymaking. Sound bases of public policy is critical in every aspect of governance, not the least for making laws or rules, but also for the execution and implementation of the same. A particular public policy can be an overarching macro-action stating a framework of values, or, as in most sectoral policies, part of a continuum in a particular sector. A transformatory shift can be a paradigmatic shift in terms of a radical break with the past in terms of societal or cultural mores, economic values or political preferences. Small changes or reforms cannot be called a transformatory shift though in democracies the normal practice is to progress through incremental changes. In India, the constitution itself was a radical shift from our customs or traditions of the past in terms of trying to impose a Western liberal democratic political culture and way of life within a steeply hierarchical society through the inculcation

No abstract

Dr K. Savitri's book Conflict Resolution and Peace Building: UN Engagement in Cambodia is a scholarly attempt to critically understand and evaluate United Nations (UN) engagement in Cambodia in the areas of peacekeeping, peace building, and post-conflict reconstruction of states. The publication of this book is an important milestone in the emerging discipline of conflict studies in India which is primarily focused in understanding the nature and causes of conflict, besides evaluating the methods, procedures, and practices employed to resolve them. Dr Savitri's choice of the Cambodian case study for research is commendable but comes as no surprise. The sheer magnitude of the Cambodian crisis, and the nature and scale of UN operations there, represents one of the best examples of UN multitasking in the post-Cold War era in conflict resolution. The UN had to reinvent itself in Cambodia, diversifying far beyond any of its mandates in earlier peacekeeping operations: it was involved in civilian administration, disarming of warring groups, conducting elections, humanitarian aid, and restoration of a duly elected democratic government. The mandate of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) was, therefore, one of the most ambitious and complex tasks ever undertaken by the UN. Her study starts from the date of the Vietnamese occupation till the UNTAC withdrawal from Cambodia in 1993. Analysis of the UN role in Cambodia is not just a case study in conflict resolution, but its importance lies in the