Politics in Nepal: Monarchy,Democracy and Governance

This study examines contemporary problems associated with nation-building process in Nepal. The unified Nepali state governed by the Shah Dynasty has gone through several phases of political experi-mentation initially by banning electoral representation of political parties and later by introduction of National Panchayat. The British withdrawal from India in 1947 and India's role as successor state of British India fundamentally shaped Nepal's approach towards democracy giving birth to several political parties. The period also witnessed Nepal engaging in foreign bilateral relations with other countries. The political parties and the institution of monarchy in Nepal have served each other with often contradicting and complimentary stance until the upsurge of People's Movement in the 1990s and the mid-2000s. The People's Movement and Maoist insurrection in the 1990s gave rise to unprecedented political upheaval in the history of modern Nepali state. The monarchy under King Birendra introduced constitutional monarchy in the early 1990s under pressure from political movements which was hijacked by King Gyanendra in 2005 when he decided to suspend democracy in return for absolute control amidst counter insurgency operations against the Maoists by the erstwhile Royal Nepal Army. This attracted lot of international criticism and from domestic stakeholders. This volume shows that the ongoing demo-cratic consolidation including Constituent Assembly elections exhibits a remarkable and unique form of inter-relationship between ethnic, cultural and political groupings, thereby making governance problem-atic and complex. Sunil Pradhan is a Research Scholar pursuing Ph.D in the Depart-ment of International Relations, Sikkim University, Sikkim, India.