The Monarchy and Modernization in Nepal

Abstract

AS A FORM of governance, monarchy is a rapidly disappearing political species. As recently as a hundred years ago, this was the most common political system. The great ruling houses of Europe-the Hapsburgs, the Hohenzollerns, and the Romanoffs-disappeared in the early twentieth century. The crowned heads of state that remain are rulers in name only. The monarchs of Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Sweden, for example, are symbolic heads of state. Monarchies which actually govern are found only in the less developed parts of the world, particularly the Middle East and Asia. Since World War II, monarchies in these areas have been giving way in the face of political and social changes. As a result there remains today but a handful of ruling monarchies, and the weight of history would seem to suggest that the future of even these is not promising. Traditional monarchies have disappeared because of their incapacity to modernize. Samuel Huntington describes this as fundamentally the dilemma of reform.' Support for the monarchy comes largely from those sectors of society with strong vested interests in preservation of traditional values-i.e., the status quo. Landed aristocracy, the church, the military, and the court nobility have in most instances achieved high social and economic status. This status is threatened, if not undermined, by transformations in the basic configuration of society. Accordingly, traditional elites resist changes which, in their view, threaten the security of their own position. But while political, social, and economic change can be delayed or modified, it cannot be forestalled forever. As the pace of change has accelerated in the last century, all societies have been affected, no matter how remote. No society is immune to the consequences of change which will sooner or later demand accommodation. Here lies the king's dilemma. If he attempts to modernize certain elements of the system in order to accommodate emerging elites, he alienates the traditional elites, the only durable base of support for the regime of the monarchy. But if he does not pursue