From Insurgency to Democracy

The Challenges of Peace and Democracy-Building in Nepal

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6299014
AutoresGanga Bahadur Thapa (Tribhuvan University), Jan Sharma (Nepal Institute of Development Studies)
Año2009
Volumen30
Número2
Páginas205-219
Fecha de publicación2009-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInternational Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0192-5121 • E-ISSN: 1460-373X
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0192512109102437
OpenAlexW2160913287
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas26
Referencias citadas13

The failure of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes spurred a global surge in democratization in the 1980s. However, efforts at democratization have been challenged by path-dependent institutional and political variables that can inhibit the growth of western-style democratic pluralism. Nepal is no exception to this experience. When the king sidelined the political parties in an attempt to revive the absolute monarchy in February 2005, the political parties and the Maoist guerrillas resisted this move and forced the king to revive the dissolved House of Representatives. Subsequently, parliament proclaimed Nepal to be a federal democratic republic, ending the 240-year-old Hindu monarchy. Today, there is both optimism and pessimism regarding the ongoing peace and democracy-building project in Nepal: optimism because there is a consensus, albeit vague, on building political and economic institutions that will transform Nepali society for the better; pessimism because the due process of law is being increasingly thwarted due to the nondemocratic inclinations of political leaders. This article critically reviews the challenges Nepal is facing as it struggles to transform from insurgency to a peaceful and democratic society

Authoritarianism · Autocracy · Democracy · Democratization · Development economics · Economics · Insurgency · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Political Conflict and Governance · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East