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Significant setbacks are put forth for developmental amalgamation in the state these days. Numerous curve paths are carved for developmental agendas in the name of a political coalition. Behind the national cockpit of all political forces appears to be an inner party polarization, that seems more dramatic. Doctrines of all political forces seem stagnant as a desert. Merit over the catchment of philosophy remains sound unless guided by individual interest. Here the core doctrine remains disdained. Is this prolific in this global and polarized world?

MD Dharamdasani, a professor at the University of Rajasthan in his volume ‘Indian Diplomacy in Nepal’, proclaims that geopolitical tension always encapsulates the nation whether it is small or big, but in the polarized world, it is essential for every country to go with a liberal political system. His thought resembles a sort of insight that vibrates the essence of pessimism. Pessimism is that every nation is indifferent on its own, either in the form of freedom, liberty and sovereignty. A manual approach of ‘go and seek’ later led to the formation of a new ideology depicted as partisanship. Nowadays this seems more rampant. 

Clash of ideologies

Samuel P Huntington, an American political scientist, professes via his published volume ‘The Clash of Civilizations’ that people’s cultural and religious identities may be the preliminary cradle of conflict. Conflict in a tendency that no idea and prerequisites coincides with the minimum requirements of political ideology. Tendency to win is only a way for cadres. Is this fine with the political force? Can this policy of win-win be only a way out for any political party? Till now the political cadres are entirely under the thumbs of so-called leaders. Fine tuning of ideology is needed in Nepal, but the prosperity and virtue-based line seems to be more prominent. This prominence needs to be disdained by supremos. 

Every political force carries some peculiar ideologies. They are not identical and also need not be identical. Solid ideological roadmap streamed up as per the respective manifesto is a must for the political forces but that seems status quo Nepali panorama.  The emotional tendency swings the matter and manner, with no concrete view. Rather moots are hiked. Considering our domestic arena is narrow and ragtag, a smooth and normal line of panglossian  needs to be drawn up. It’s just like Laxman drawing a Laxmanrekha in the Ramayan to prohibit Rawan from abducting Sita. These types of lines need to be drawn on our devastating leaders also. 

Cultural baselines

Ideological baselines are termed a mandatory sensation for every political force, which plays a crucial role in the rationality-based political manner. Leaders were presumed to be moral and decent. The circumstances seem U-turned till date. Is this due to the irrationality of civilians or due to the cultural deviations of so-called leaders? In general, this needs to be reformed. The South Asian reformation wind is not so far and has already touched the South Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and more. In other words, the geopolitical sensation of Nepal is also lavish and intensifying. The irrationality of political swing is not an old story. So, in order to crystallize the density of political disorder, incubation of cultural and ideological tendencies must occur. 

The tendency to grow, stabilize and replicate are the core values of the Nepali community, where the Nepali parties play and put forth their steps. Stepping up on the cultural background of the Nepali panorama, every active and passive political force chalked out their agendas to groom. Under the unacceptance of the Nepali community, every deal stayed fiasco. In time to go, the major forces of the country must kick-off for a synergistic boom for resilience. Many of the actors in the realm remain fragile for any de-facto progress. The youth-led morcha (frontier) are cooling their heels for the next awaited moment. 

Condensed ideological claim 

Retrospecting over the global political arena, no political force tends to sustain without an ideological foundation based on hearing and doing. But in Nepal, haranguing is more rampant than performing. The political ring is encircled by pedants and are so critical that no citizen can be in touch with leaders. So, the leaders are in a vicious gap with the general citizens. In other words, it can be addressed as a potential ideological gap. The well-defined ideology can act as a crystal clear roadmap on developmental amalgamation. Mediocre political forces of our state only yawn, and in the hay days they remain passive onlookers.  Is this the morale of ideological know-how?

Yet ideology remains status quo as natural laws depicted by scientific theories. But our social and normative theme is dynamic and adaptable as per contingency. This concludes and relays a sensation of indecorous disdain of existing doctrine, which opts not to change as need and desire. So is the political ideology of every country and political force. A country carries a holistic approach but the political unit carries a tiny perspective, which is perceivable. ideological claim is the motto of every party but they fail to think off to have a clear execution, it resembles that it is ideal of themselves. But in the long-run it remains ignorant even by the polemist. If we aim to bring about holistic reformation, we mandatorily need to dig an empirical foundation for a policy advocacy forum guided by internal think tanks of institutions of respected political parties. Finally, it must be adjusted by higher hierarchy on an annual and as-per-the-need basis.

Political and constitutional changes have been a long-drawn-out affair, in the case of Nepal. 

For instance, the Constituent Assembly (CA) materialized 55 long years (in 2008) after its germination as an idea in 1951 following the advent of democracy. This delay can be attributed to manipulation on the part of our political parties.

One school of thought, though, assumes that the historic charter (the Constitution of 2015) promulgated through a CA does not have much to do with popular aspirations of Nepali citizens, whereas the other argues that it does. 

Sovereign Nepali citizens and their representatives—leaders of political parties—presumably have a central role in determining the kind of political systems they want and the roadmap for the future, with the Constitution acting as a point of reference. 

But our political parties are not acting in line with their very own manifestos and ideologies, giving rise to a state of impunity. First and foremost, these forces need to become clean, clear and accountable toward their political manifestos and ideologies. If this happens, we will have a drastic transformation in our views and visions. 

The derivatives

We encounter a lot of confusion while trying to trace the roots of our parliamentary democracy. Discourses tend to show that external diplomatic influences played a pivotal role in the establishment of democracy in Nepal rather than the domestic forces. This couriers a miserable deal with our preamble of sovereign state and somehow paves a depraved way out. 

What shall we do in such a scenario? Opt for a diplomatic transformation?

Amid all this, the to and fro of the former king has political parties, the old guard in particular, panicked along with the Hindutva factor. However, the new forces are quite upbeat and have already begun preparing for 2027, when general elections will take place. 

Hindutva does not necessarily mean an absolute religious rule. Rather, it can lay the foundation for good governance. Caught in a crossroads, Nepal has a gigantic opportunity to put its development agenda on the front-burner by going for collective bargaining with external forces like India, China, the US and the UK instead of focusing on the trivial issues.  

Parliamentary democracy constitutes a robust foundation in the countries with a laissez-faire governing system, where power is vested in the public or citizens. However, laissez-faire may result in despotism in the long run. This very idea of political shift may lead to an imbalance of power between the government bodies as seen now in Nepal between federal and local governments. A clear example of this imbalance is the relation between Kathmandu Metropolitan City and the federal government of Nepal. Potential tyranny, lack of trust between coalition partners and tyranny by majority can also be a clumsy manner for political derivation maintained through parliamentary democracy.

The way forward

The literacy rate has gone up in Nepal, as indicated by the 2021 census, possibly pointing toward rising public awareness, among others. Thanks to growing factionalism within their ranks, political forces are losing their cadres and followers, prompting new generations to seek alternatives of the old guard. 

All this is likely to deal the status-quoists a huge blow in the next general elections, with the scholar and well-versed political marcher possibly fielding their candidacies. 

To minimize the damage, the old guard needs to minimize social, developmental and inclusive gaps via politically collaborative foundations. Their focus should be on maintaining the rule of law, ending impunity, striving for economic reforms through diplomatic dialogues, and development of politically collaborative environments.

Naomi Klein, a prominent Canadian author and professor, mentions in her book “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate” with a remarkable example that climate change is not just a plight, but the developed political systems along with the economic forces are connected deeply together to form a capitalist society. So is it, entire superpowers are unfaithfully heading toward capitalism. The deep-rooted insights of capital society are a lion's share now-a-days.

Klein's resistance toward globalization seems to be more precise and the momentum of 'glocalization' in her volume can have a unique blend of globalization and localization. Over the global hotcakes, climate change and global warming seem more awakening but turning a blind eye to these issues can result in long-term impacts. The agency for regulation and monitoring over climate change, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) under the umbrella of Conference of the Parties (COP), seems to have a regular meeting among partners globally but the execution remains poor. Are the partners worldwide just putting the demonstrating concur?

A brand new concept of climate capitalism emerged in around 1999 with the version of reformation over global energy consumption inequalities that have existed hitherto. It is supposed as a sequential rethinking of ideas that prerequisite to be addressed using various marketing tendencies. Here, the idea behind climate capitalism is to shift investment away from fossil fuels and toward energy efficiency and renewable energy sources through financial means. Carbon markets and carbon taxes are two examples of these methods.

As in Naomi's volume mentioned earlier, the economic aspects of energy consumption can benefit both from the holistic market move and idea shifting from the existing fossil era to the new superconductor era. Where needed, return can be maintained from power corporations by developing the culture of green energy.

Global rethinking

Post-COP and UNFCCC operating under the optimal level of thinking relates to a low emission of carbon by superpowers, under the agreement and negotiations, does this phenomenon stand as a milestone now? Of course not. Then how will LDCs make efforts when their optimal level of carbon release is comparatively low? On this issue, the whole world needs to think again and again for a solid outcome. If not, the bearing and rearing capacity of the Earth will inevitably be lost.

The climatic crisis portrays thoughtful snags that are being likely caused by changes in the global weather generally, the global warming. They are impacting the flora and fauna very severely.  Harmful human activities that cause increased carbon dumping in the atmosphere include unhealthy use of plastic-based materials, increased CO2 and CO emissions, deforestation and more. The carrying capacity of the Earth is also related to the overall population growth, global warming and climatic condition of the universe. Earth bears the capacity of absorbing the heat from the sun but carries no emission capacity, making it a greenhouse of sorts. 

Rethinking about the reformation of global climatic concerns carries a holistic and multi-faceted reality. Sustainable development envisioned by Brundtland Commission (1987) aimed for a common future must be directed toward these hotcakes i.e. global warming and climatic crisis. It is also notable that the theme of these two recent agendas are also part and parcel of sustainable development by which the entire world is bounded. It is also rational that sustainability achieved in climate change and global warming can be a great milestone if the world leaders make it actionable.

Where is the effect?

In recent years, global warming is leading to coastal erosion, flooding and rise in the sea level, causing the nations connected to the sea to shrink. Tuvalu, a country in the South Pacific, is a good example. Rise in temperatures affects the whole planet, including the marine ecosystem and the Himalayas, resulting in effects like glacial lake outburst floods, flooding and landslides, affecting fragile ecosystem of the Himalayas and the lower reaches. Nepal, Pakistan and north polar regional countries are grappling with severe impacts of climate disasters resulting from rising temperatures. It is assumed that by 2030, in summer there will be no sea ice left in the arctic region. Forests have been witnessing profound effects of global warming, including increase in instances of forest fire and disruption of forest ecosystems.

The melting of ice in the poles is behind rising sea levels and coastal erosion, which have been affecting beings such as seals, polar bears and penguins. Extreme temperatures have also affected the seasons. Human life is under increased threat due to an increase in cases of diseases such as malaria, skin ailments and acid rain.

Coping with adverse climate

Nepal is a landlocked country with mountains and a diversified natural environment that is particularly vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. These repercussions include melting glaciers, erratic rainfall, floods, landslides, droughts and the extinction of several animal and plant species. Nepal participated actively in the past editions of Conference of Parties (COPs) and presented its Nationally Determined Contributions, outlining its plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance resilience and adaptation. Nepal has also come to an agreement over the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. The rights and interests of the mountainous and least developed countries (LDCs) get due attention at least during international climate negotiations.

Wrapping up, let’s hope that the host UAE’s announcement of " Accelerating the Transition", made during COP-28, will help make Planet Earth a more livable place by reducing soaring temperatures and curbing climate change, providing some relief to the most vulnerable countries like Nepal.

Nepal has a short history of democratic practice that started about seven decades ago, only to be punctuated by authoritarianism. What’s more, a report from the Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) points at the existence of a “hybrid form of democracy” in Nepal. This hybrid strain, which foreign agencies have made mention of, is perhaps a pointer toward coups that have taken place and the absence of ‘genuine’ democracy even during what can largely be described as the ‘democratic era’. 

A rational democracy contains multiple features, which are lacking in our democracy. 

For example, democracy in a developed country is not bound by the clan and cluster of the citizen. In such a polity, the citizens have a full-fledged authority over the resources with government agencies acting as accelerating forces that keep a close watch on democratic forces and practices. Every eager citizen assumes that democratic practice carries a long-term value. Economic powerhouses are also an independent parallel influence to institutionalize democracy. Demography, democracy and demonstration are also crucial for a proper democratic practice.

Democratic pathways

Multi-polar practice of development entails a tranquil mechanism as it presumes the system as a long-run phenomenon that sprints systematic carryover of the entire nation. Rational development in a real democracy carries the lingered value that leads to overall systematic reformation, which is lacking in least developed countries. Systematic uplifting of democratic practice leads the nation ultimately to smooth pathways for formal and accurate systematic changes that we are likely to ask for.

Continuous political volatility, impunity, messy policies, unregulated economic activities, intra-party polarization and regional strain are the key factors that are likely to have an inverse impact on the sound development of democracy. Sound democracy needs a playful practice of social justice and social equity. Parallel practice of adjustment over the government and development of morality among the general civilians seems to be a petty smart notion for democratic reformation.

Ready for a shift?

In this era of rampant social modification and development, everyone may not have equally profound faith in terms of democratic institutionalization. On the contrary, he/she tries to clutch the aspirations of the masses for overall social progress. But they go pear-shaped to remember their backgrounds and the system under which they are performing. This is a general trauma. So, gradual eradication of illiteracy among the citizenry is also a goal that we are trying to achieve.

By 2026, Nepal is likely to ‘graduate’ to a developing nation from a ‘poor nation’ and the government is making preparations for this progressive shift. Many of the socio-cultural aspects, literal aspects, economic indicators and other normative values are still in rapid progress to achieve this. But the core living standards, health access of distant populace and political transition have not made much headway. Amid this scenario, a question arises: Are we really ready for this shift?

Liberating space

Institutionalization of a democratic system that delivers is the minimum requirement of the Nepali people. This way, we can enhance the general economic system and democratic perspective dynamically. 

Disordered democratic systems lacking crystal-clear roadmaps can invite a high-degreed curse rather than boon for the state. In least developed countries (LDCs) like Nepal, where democracy is not yet institutionalized, a culture of impunity is likely to take root. Switching up for the sound, adamant and progressive democracy is a vital prerequisite for us. The holistic theme of democracy is crucial not only to accelerate societal progress but also to boost up economic reformation, which is a prior need and demand of every state.

Digital democracy

Now-a-days, we are positioning our nose for classical adherence to liberalization, but can't keep our fingers ahead for the digital taxonomy of democracy moving and seeking a rampant platform for further limelight. It quests ahead for digital technology, maximization of digital tools, social media platform, online advocacy forums and more. In this digital era, many individuals can develop advocacy forums and can mushroom in no time. This is also a prerequisite for developing a digital democracy, which may later take the form of e-democracy where anyone can poll and manifest their opinion via individual democratic platforms.

Concurrently, new arrivals in the political system of Nepal are in the line to develop a quiet, liberal and democratic play station to ponder into the system of the country, and are also successful catching the aspiration of civilians. 

In a simplistic portrayal, Nepal still grapples with a form of religious influence. The singular force of Pashupatinath, serving as a sanctuary during crises—be it the Covid-19 pandemic or a devastating earthquake—offers solace. While grand solutions have been found for these issues, economic and political resolutions may remain elusive for some time.

Navigating the intricate pathways that lie between the lines appears to be a daunting endeavor as Nepal approaches the impending era. This challenge permeates various spheres—economic, political, religious, and cultural—casting a formidable shadow over the nation’s trajectory. A glimmer of hope emerges, as youth, akin to a silver lining within a clouded sky, has unfurled its momentum from the eastern reaches to the western expanses of Nepal.

Facts about political parties 

The political parties are not yet prepared for economic, social, or political progress. They must exhibit clear intent and scale their developmental agendas. However, the timing of such actions remains uncertain. Several parties face disintegration/registration challenges and power struggles. Neither the future nor existing ideologies are distinctly conveyed to people.

Many youth-led forces, along with leftist parties, advocate for a state structure transcending provincial boundaries. Yet, CPN (Maoist Center) claims credit for initiating federalism, while Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal acknowledges federalism’s burden and proposes renaming provinces along ethnic lines. All in all, the Maoists’ stance remains unclear. Are other political forces simply passive observers, or are they aligned with this movement?

Amidst uneven diplomatic dialogues, the Bhutanese refugee issue, and the Lalita Niwas scandal, international perceptions and diplomacy seem to be subject to mockery. New scandals like the 100 kg gold smuggling risk further weakening Nepal's diplomacy and trapping political parties in a long-term predicament. The victory of independent candidates in the recently-held elections reflects frustrations of voters.

Balancing democracy and economy 

To achieve an economic action plan, numerous obstacles must be overcome. Although laws are well-drafted, their execution often falters. Commissions and executing bodies lack effectiveness. The lingering effects of impunity and power dynamics persist across sectors. Citizens distancing themselves from political parties signals a worrying trend. Political leaders must proactively address this shift.

Economic trends demand a circulative corrective approach in every nation. Examples from the US, the UK, China and India underscore the importance of a strong economy. National innovative schemes, nuclear experiments regulation, political transition and public sector reforms are necessary. Despite challenges, the UK is projected to sustain a 2.5 percent annual economic growth rate. A progressive economic approach suggests that sustained, gradual growth surpasses rapid expansion.

Nepal’s presumed leaders acknowledge that citizens possess the power to remove them, demonstrated by the overthrow of the long-standing monarchy. A united movement could challenge politics rooted in impunity. The ongoing power struggle between political expulsive and impulsive elements may lead to chaos, as witnessed in Nepal's history. The key lies in addressing public concerns and ensuring a stable transition.

Realpolitik or ragtag? 

While Nepali Congress has historically held influence, its contributions to political and economic development are questionable. It tends to propose impulsive agendas when in opposition, but substantial progress is lacking. Attempts at reform are active but lack enduring impact. Democratic ideals persist, regardless of whether they pertain to economics or politics.

The CPN-UML is consolidating following significant fragmentation. While drafting reformative policies on economy and polity, the party’s focus on implementation lags. Will policy formulation alone yield tangible outcomes?

The Maoists initially aimed for rapid, comprehensive development, exemplified by their aspiration for double-digit economic growth. However, their ambitions quickly fizzled out. Now wonder, the party, which was the largest political party in the Constituent Assembly (CA) election, is languishing at third today. Short-term progress in both politics and economics remains challenging.

Remittances play a crucial role in Nepal's present, significantly contributing to GDP growth. Research highlights their impact on education and poverty alleviation. Urbanization is also driven by remittance inflow. Nepal became eligible for graduation from least developed country (LDC) in 2018. However, a comprehensive agenda for this transformation is lacking. Nepal is entitled to various facilities from donor agencies as a developing nation, but political instability and lack of capacity is hindering the country from utilizing them to the fullest. Development-driven diplomacy is key for sustained economic growth, but patience is crucial.

Final thoughts

The intertwined eco-political dynamics outlined above present a perplexing situation. Effective, rational leadership is vital for the country. But it is too much to ask from our leaders. Economic progress requires catalytic actions. An overly reactive catalyst can hasten economic growth, but a strategic, retrospective approach offers a steadier path to economic advancement.