Nepal's political transition |
Nepal's recent elections mark the beginning of a new era of democratic transition for this mountainous South Asian nation which was never colonised. Nepal's evolving political trajectory also illustrates the diversity of regional political experiences and showcases how different countries in this neighborhood are trying to navigate varied pressures from both domestic constituencies and external actors.
For centuries, Nepal was ruled by the Shah monarchy, which unified the country in the eighteenth century and maintained a centralised political order for generations. Although the monarchy began transitioning toward constitutional rule in the 1990s, many structural inequalities and governance problems remained unresolved. Political exclusion, rural poverty and frustration with entrenched elites helped fuel insurgent movements that promised dramatic change. These deep rooted issues eventually sparked a civil war in 1996.
The Maoist insurgency fundamentally transformed Nepal's........