PROBLEMS OF GOVERNANCE IN NEPAL

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the problems of governance that plagued Nepal following its transition to a multi-party democracy in 1990. It examines the key challenges to establishing stable and effective democratic institutions. The study explores the persistent political instability, characterized by frequent changes in government and fractious coalition politics. The research also delves into the deep-seated structural problems, including a weak and politicized bureaucracy, widespread corruption, and the immense challenge of delivering development to a geographically diverse and impoverished population. The paper argues that the initial euphoria of the democratic transition was quickly replaced by a growing public disillusionment with the performance of the political class. The analysis concludes by assessing the long-term prospects for democratic consolidation in the face of these formidable governance challenges, including the emerging threat of the Maoist insurgency.

The transition to multi-party democracy in Nepal in 1990 was a historic achievement, but the subsequent years were marked by a profound crisis of governance. This paper provides a critical diagnosis of the key problems that confronted the new democratic state. The study begins by analyzing the high degree of political instability that characterized the period, with a succession of weak and short-lived coalition governments. It argues that this instability was a product of the fragmented party system and a political culture that prioritized short-term power-seeking over long-term institutional development. The core of the article is an examination of the structural weaknesses of the Nepali state. It details the challenges of reforming a bureaucracy that was ill-equipped for the demands of a democratic and developmental state. The paper also provides an in-depth analysis of the pervasive problem of corruption, which eroded the legitimacy of the new democratic institutions and alienated the public. A further key theme is the failure of the state to address the deep-seated problems of poverty and inequality, particularly in the rural hinterlands, which created a fertile ground for the rise of the Maoist insurgency. The findings suggest that the problems of governance were not merely teething troubles of a new democracy but were systemic in nature, posing an existential threat to the democratic experiment itself.