Rising Insurgency, Faltering Democratisation in Nepal

Abstract

The objective is to chart Nepal's recent political history in order to explain how a seemingly anachronistic Maoist movement emerged to pose a threat—not just to Nepal but much of South Asia. The ineffectual political process that failed to resolve the country's most pressing problem—economic development—is examined. The infighting, support base, social grievances, ideology and strategy of the Maoist insurgency are described. The Maoists’ transnational network is identified, as is India's often ambiguous response to the move-ment. Special attention is given to the paradoxical dialectic linking the march of the Maoists with the manoeuvrings of Nepal's king. The conclusion drawn is that democratisation in Nepal has been undermined by an odd combination of Maoist insurgency, dysfunc-tional political parties, the monarchy's putschism, in addition to the widely-acknowledged failure of economic development. In an interdependent world, the result of one small state's descent into political instability—and the rise of insurgency in it—has direct conse-quences for other larger more stable countries.