| Nepalese Democracy Movement | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Date | 1948–2008 | |||
| Location | ||||
| Caused by | Political repression;Public participation;Standards of living | |||
| Goals | Multi-party system;Democracy;Abolition of monarchy | |||
| Methods | Strike;Street protesters;Insurgency;Introduced black day | |||
| Resulted in | Abolition of monarchy;Democracy | |||
| Parties | ||||
| Lead figures | ||||
TheNepalese democracy movement was the combination of a series of political initiatives and movements from the 20th century to 2008 that advocated the establishment ofrepresentative democracy, amulti-party political system and the abolition of monarchy inNepal. It has seen three major movements, theRevolution of 1951,Jana Andolan andLoktantra Andolan (Nepali: लोकतन्त्र आन्दोलन,romanized:Loktantra Āndolan) which ultimately abolished theShah monarchy, transitioned Nepal towards arepublic and reintroducedmulti-party bicameral democracy.
The beginning of a national movement for democracy in Nepal was the ousting of theRanas, the long-established Nepalese royal family, in the mid-20th century which was influenced by ethnic and political developments from theIndian nationalist movement.[1] However, this period of democracy ended in 1960 and thePanchayat system of government was introduced, abolishing recent democratic institutions, banningpolitical parties and restricting some forms offreedom of speech.[1]
Student protests in 1979 led to a referendum on the direction of the political system resulted in minor adaptations to the existing party-less system, at times increasing executive control over the opposition.[2] A period ofeconomic disputes with India and mounting repression in Nepal led to theJana Andolan popular movement resulting in the re-establishment of multi-party democracy under a constitutional monarchy framework.
Until 2001, the economic and political situation progressed despite corruption, nepotism and the presence of aMaoist insurgency which developed into a nation-wide civil war between the Maoist insurgents and theGovernment of Nepal. Following theassassination of the Nepalese royal family,King Gyanendra took control of the government and ruled until 2006 throughemergency powers enforcing nation-wide oppression of media and civil society.[2] Widespread protests headed by a coalition of seven Nepalese Parties alongside the Maoists led to the resignation of the King and the reinstation of the Parliament, the abolishment of monarchy and transitioned Nepal towards afederal republic, marking an end to the country's civil war.
As one of the regions oldest nation-states, Nepal was unified by theShah Dynasty and has since been ruled by theRana royal family after acoup d'état that installedJung Bahadur Kunwar as prime minister, and laterMaharaja ofKaski andLamjung.[3] During the 19th century, Nepal's expansionist aspirations came in conflict with theBritish Empire and theBritish East India Company culminating in theAnglo-Nepalese War of 1814-16.[3]
The war eventually concluded with theTreaty of Sugauli on 4 March 1816 which defined Nepal's current territorial boundaries. The treaty therefore spared Nepal ofcolonisation similar to that of neighbouring countries. Throughout the Shah dynasty Nepali society underwent a period ofSanskritisation which established the political, economic and cultural dominance of high-casteIndo-Aryans, most notably theBahuns andChhetri caste who established Khas Kura, later known asNepali, as the officialstate language.[4]
The mid-20th century saw the emergence of an educated elite in Nepal due to an expansion of the country's education system leading to much increasedliteracy rates and rising levels ofhigher education attainment in the country.[5] AfterIndia's independence, political parties were established and engaged an organised struggle against theRana monarchy in neighbouring Nepal. TheNepal Communist Party was founded in 1949 with the goal to set up a democracy and People's Republic.[5] Conversely, theNepali Congress Party, later Nepali Congress, was formed in 1947 and gained support from the Nepal Communist Party to stage an armed revolution against the Rana monarchy.[5] Under significant international and domestic pressure, the royal family and the Nepali Congress agreed to institute a peaceful and stable transition of democracy regarded as the Delhi Compromise of 1951.[5] A transitional government was instituted with in a constitutional monarchy framework, and elections won by the Nepali Congress Party which was instrumental in abolishing the Rana regime and ran on a social-democratic basis.[6] In December 1960King Mahendra dissolved the parliament and devised a ban on political parties and police jailed members of political parties and members of the national cabinet.
The King introduced thePanchayat system of governance which restructured political power to the King elections to holding direct elections at a communal level. While Panchayat legislation formally guaranteed freedom of speech, it was restricted through a number of royal laws, includinglèse-majesté legislation which prohibited critique of the royal family.[1] The political reforms restructured and curtailed the parliament's autonomy and authority as the King heldexecutive power. Political representatives were strictly monitored on their loyalty to the monarch, and political representation held narrow.[6] Popular discontent mounted in 1979 in student protests leading to a referendum on the future of the Panchayat system which resulted in the preservation of the Panchayat system with minor institutional reforms.
Following a trade dispute with India that resulted in price hikes and shortages of consumer goods a coalition of seven political factions and the Nepali Congress lead a process of reintroduction of democracy in Nepal.[5] In April 1990, students,human rights organisations and professional unions staged protests which led to the closure of universities and schools.[5] The protests culminated in the first Jana Andolan, or People's Movement which pressured the King to reinstate multi-party democracy in the framework of a constitutional democracy.[7] Its constitution declared Nepal as a Hindu state withKhasa-Nepali as the official language despite Nepal's poly-religious and linguistic population.[8] The restoration of democracy in Nepal solidified a shift to neoliberal government policies that promoted economic liberalisation such as the removal of price controls, privatisation and introduction of convertibility for the domestic currency.[9]
TheNepalese civil war, orPeople’s War, was the result of stalled peace negotiations between the democratic government and the paramilitary wing of theCommunist Party of Nepal (Maoist).[10] It resulted in a build-up of around 30,000 insurgency fighters and caused approximately 13,000 casualties with thousands unaccounted for.[11][12] Nepal's first decade of democracy is considered turbulent due to frequent government changes, internal party battles andcorruption. Politics continued to be dominated by theBrahmin andChhetri castes with an underrepresentation ofethnic minorities and women.[13]
After the transition to theconstitutional monarchy in 1991 Nepal remained one of the least developed countries, situated at 113 out of 130 countries inHuman Development Index.[13] General elections in 1999 produced a victory for theNepali Congress, ushering in 4 years of political stability.[14] The dissolution of theHouse of Representatives for the 1994 mid-term election led to ahung parliament producing 8 unstablecoalition governments within 5 years.[14] Following a split in theUnited People's Front into the recognised and unrecognised wing, led byPuspa Kamal Dahal, elections were boycotted, and armed rebellion was instigated. The government was presented with demands to institutionalise Nepal as afederal republic, therefore abolishingmonarchy, formation of aninterim government and the establishment of a constituent assembly.[15]
On the 13 February 1996 thePeople’s War was declared in response to the perceived government failure to honour the insurgent's demands.[11] On 1 June 2001 theroyal family was murdered, triggering the crowning ofGyanendra as king.[11] On 25 November 2001 a truce between theMaoist insurgents and the government broke following an increase in violent attacks against the police and army. This triggered the declaration of anational emergency and the passage of theTerrorist and Disruptive Activities (Control and Punishment) Ordinance (TADO). TADO declared the Maoists as terrorists and deployed theRoyal Nepalese Army against them.[11]
Following political confrontations between members of theHouse of Representatives andKing Gyanendra, several constitution articles were suspended, especially ones relating to freedom of speech, expression, press, movement and rights to peaceful protest.[1] The then prime ministerDeuba’s government stayed in office and ruled throughgovernment decrees until dismissed by Gyanendra due to a perceived inability to hold elections and quell the Maoist insurgency.[16]
Deuba was replaced byLokendra Bahadur, a formerPanchayat politician and Nepalese royalist who failed to negotiate a peace deal with the Maoists and faced the rise of a popular pro-democracy movement joined by major Nepali political parties, including theNepali Congress,Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) (UML),Rashtriya Prajatantra Party,Nepal Congress Party (Democratic),United Left Front,Nepal Workers and Peasants Party.
After the reappointment ofDeuba as prime minister theNepali Congress (Democratic),UML andRashtriya Prajatantra Party left the civil movement and joined the government.[16] The TADO legislation was further renewed and has contributed to Nepal’s record numbers of unexplainedforced disappearances in 2002 and 2003 (Malagodi 2013, p. 187).[16] Following a brief period of political stability,King Gyanendra dismissed the Deuba government and assumed full executive control over the country through the declaration of aState of Emergency under the laws of the 1990 Constitution.[17]
In 1996 the Maoist insurgency launched a violent campaign to overthrow the political-economic status quo, redistribute land and affect a ‘proletarian revolution’ in Nepal.[9] The ensuing civil war causedhuman rights violations and killings of more than 13,000, as well as a decline in Nepal'sGDP growth rate, fuelled by a drop in tourist arrivals and the destruction of infrastructure.[9] Following theassassination of King Birendra and his family in 2001, the multi-party democracy was placed under aState of Emergency by the preceding King, tightly controlling the opposition,censoring news and media organisations, and shutting down telecommunications in parts of the country.[1] The civil war developed into a military and political stalemate that ended in 2005.[9] Protests against the political and economic situation drew an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 in Nepal's capitalKathmandu and 5 million in the entire country.[9]
An alliance of seven political parties developed a coalition government, abolished the monarchy and signed a peace agreement with Maoist insurgents in 2006.[18] This was achieved through cooperation between main-stream political parties and the Maoist insurgency facilitated though a 12-point agreement which outlined the democratic framework to be instituted after the abolition of monarchy.[9] This framework set out the formation of an internationally monitored interim government, holdingfree and fair elections in a system of governance which guarantees civil, political and human rights, as well as therule of law.
Furthermore, the Constitution was redrafted to:
TheRoyal Nepalese Army has been accused of suppressing the demonstrations with an unproportional use of force leading to a high-level investigation into law enforcement brutality towards the 2006 protests.[19] After the release of the Rayamajhi Commission the government implemented its recommendations and dismissed the chiefs of Nepal's police organisations.[20]
Following elections in 2008, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) won 29.28% of the votes contrary to international predictions. Furthermore, the election increased the representation of women and ethnic minorities.[21]
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