ABSTRACT
Contemporary Tibet 1 is the subject of one of the world's longest running ethno-territorial conflicts, dating from just after the People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded in 1949. Virtually every aspect of state-society interaction in Tibet has been contested by the principal parties—the Tibetan exiles led by the Dalai Lama and the PRC government led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 2 It is this "Tibet Question" that links the essays in the present volume, most of which are revised and updated versions of papers presented on panels at international conferences on Asian studies or political science held in North America from 1999 to 2001.
