Have Old Parties’ Flip on Rightward Shift Prompted New Parties to Capture Wider Space?

Most of Nepal’s constitutions have embraced social justice to nibble national politics in the social democratic path. But the use of it by political leaders is unreservedly utilitarian, not ideological.  The drift of old parties of all hues—the left, the right and the center to neo-liberal consensus contradicted many of constitutional provisions pertaining to right to work, social protection, social security, social justice and welfare state, the linchpins of social democracy. Now, each political party of Nepal selectively defends the constitution rather than supporting its entire contents and adapts to the behavior of its spirit. It is vital to reconcile civil liberties of people and security and political order of Nepali state in a Faustian Pact.  All the parties are seeking to amend the constitution yet there are broad disagreements within and across party lines on the areas of amendments. Asim Shah, Prime Minister’s advisor is entrusted to collect ideas from political parties, Election Commission, civil society and citizens, about the areas of constitutional amendment and how to proceed. The key challenge is how to synthesize the suggestions on constitutional issues into an acceptable framework, remove intractable contradictions and establish its coherence with institutions, political economy and political culture.

The progressive parts of the constitution need to be fully utilized to create the stake of weaker sections of society in the polity affirming to its spirit of an egalitarian society by abolishing all forms of historical and social discriminations and making politics non zero-sum. Only by enlisting the cooperation of minorities and layers of dissident forces can guarantee political stability and constitutional durability. Each political change of Nepal has expanded the elite base of power and constitutional replacement. But the outcome of recent youth revolt and subsequent parliamentary elections has not replaced the constitution though it has displaced the old political classes. Still, the latter’s legacy of the President, Upper House of parliament, courts and public administration stands  as a bottleneck for unfolding an “open moment” for the government of Prime Minister Balen Shah to bring structural change to the public sphere and fully realize the vision of progress. The neoliberal and post-modernist elements within his own Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RSP) can put a brake on his goal to achieve cognitively, historically and culturally rooted national self-reliance. He has to keep a delicate balance of various groups– RSP, Bibiksheel Sajha Party, his own groups and forces of diverse inclinations who have joined RSP with mixed motives. Three key challenges of the party remain—political institutionalization, political education for democratization, predictable behavior and discipline and mechanism of faction-management within political parties for leadership effectiveness.

Political socialization of Nepali youths on populist ideas may pose difficulty to change substantive provisions of constitution—inclusive, federal, democratic republic which even the ruling Rastriya Swotantra Party (RSP) in its recent convention on June 23, 2026 has broadly endorsed. The party commands near to two-third majority of seats in the parliament but without requisite strength to amend it and disconnect the leadership cult coexisting with impersonal national institutions of the state. Except the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and certain social forces which favor constitutional monarchy and Hindu state the rest of parties seem to have consensus on the basic principles of the constitution.  President of RSP Ravi Lamichhane  has unveiled to restructure and dissolve federal structure, reduce the units of local bodies from 656 by one-third and make them non-partisan, direct election of prime minister, fully proportional system of election, conversion of Upper House into an assembly of non-partisan specialized experts with Vice-President over its head, barring legislator becoming minister, reform of constitutional bodies and judicial council, transparency of party fund and governance reforms to make it transparent and accountable to the people. The coordinator of CPN Puspa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ may agree on many of these issues but another leader Madhav K. Nepal, Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and Madhes-based parties seem to be satisfied with the current rightward provisions and position. Certain factors are, however, worth considering:

Ideological Innovation: The RSP has endorsed social democracy, a path left emptied by the former established parties to veer into neo-liberal road of progress and alienated themselves from their original ideologies adhered to by their founders. Social democracy may bring a kind of conceptual consensus among the parties of various spectrum but they differ on the dissolution and restructuring of provinces, fully proportional election system and downsizing of local bodies. Obviously, building the state from below and empowerment of people through participatory democratic process require enlarged units of local self-rule and devolution of power to them, not their retrenchment and distancing from the people just to expand the scale of market. It is the most rational option for the RSP to invent a middle path for all those young leaders, cadres and voter who migrated from social democratic party Nepali Congress (NC), moderate left Communist Party of Nepal Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML), Communist Party of Nepal (a constellation of 14 left groups), Shram Sanskriti Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Madhes-based parties leaving their mother parties to join its electoral rhythm with the hope of marshalling generational justice, anti-corrupt good governance and digital freedom. The ideology of social democracy does espouse civil liberties, social justice, prosperity, competitive liberal market economy, rule of law and responsive governance oriented to construct inclusive and equitable society which the RSP vows. Similarly, the vision of welfare state perfectly dovetails with property rights, equity, rule of law, equitable and inclusive and pluralistic democratic society which combines the synergic mobilization of the public, private and community resources for sustainable development. The only question is: how are these social democratic ideals articulated in the public policies of the nation, resources harnessed, policies executed in practice and the role of the state is reversed from subsidiary to welfare state?

The vision of Nepali constitution, structural condition of the nation, the state’s endorsement to all generations of human rights, respect to humanitarian laws and the enormity of constitutional rights of people entail social democracy as an inescapable option.  In this sense, the RSP’s development diplomacy is precisely designed to fulfill social democratic obligations and accountabilities to the people. RSP President Ravi Lamichhane says, “21^st century’s success in foreign policy lies not just on protecting territory but in securing opportunity, forging collaboration, gaining national dignity and expanding influence. His latter points are valid but he must know that territory defines Nepali identity, citizenship from non-citizens, opportunities and de facto sovereignty. Spatial and historical forgetfulness about these facts puts one’s head in the shade and cannot enable the nation to sit in the pivot of South Asia and the Himalayas espousing its own strategic autonomy and independent maneuverability.

There is also a hiatus, however. For example, the constitution promises the right to work, health, education, infrastructures, social justice, etc but those at the bottom of economic pyramid cannot afford them and institutional and fiscal base of Nepali state is weak to subsidize all the constitutional rights of people and muster their loyalties to the state. This has compelled youth to migrate to the international labor market to support the family and the nation but it deprives the nation of a critical mass of dynamic population important for social modernization, economic development and social change. The fundamental economic policies allowing Nepalis  to invest abroad when resources are mostly needed in the nation are not entirely inconsistent with the constitutional spirits and the goal of Prime Minister Balendra Shah to achieve economic self-reliance by restoring agriculture and import-subsisting industries and improving education, health, information, infrastructures and governance structures. There are, however, three critical challenges he has to confront in the foreseeable future. from those forces who are socialized in the image of market-based state or withering away of Nepali state, those who fear from the consequences of his socially and culturally rooted progressive nationalism and those who are acting against national self-reliance and are bent to increasing debt and dependence by confiscating the basis of real economy.

The digitalized, IT-driven and AI-powered economy can make the upper classes more dynamic while risks wrecking social capital and social cohesion by creating technological and wealth gaps if they are not properly taxed to subsidize its victims, poor and unemployed. RSP president Ravi Lamichhne’s stress on business-friendly environment, competitive social market economy, promotion of entrepreneurialism and investment in productive sectors of the economy, however, requires increasing the national income, expansion of employment, social capital and dignity of labor and proper management of climate change. To invite foreign direct investment it is important to remove the nation’s listing on the grey zone, establish the national integrity system and control the thieves of the state indulged in appropriating the scarce resources of the nation which are vital for productive investment. He must learn the lessons of history as to why the rightward drift of old parties from their ideologies prompted the people to look for it as an alternative democratic force.

Disjuncture between fact and laws: The disjunction between egalitarian laws and inegalitarian condition of Nepalis life has created a space for the justification of eternal struggle of youth for freedom and justice.

Youth protests are not sporadic disruptions which have created a tension between the democratic system and their unmet needs and rights stoked by bloated promises.

This tension has become more acute when politics and economics have operated for long outside the frame of social law and created a regime of syndicate and power monopoly which the competitive spirit of modern democracy and market economy despise. One weakness of Nepali leadership is the refusal to learn from feedback of the people. Patronage-based structures and political culture have posed problematic conditions for ordinary Nepalis to get access to the institutional resources of the state despite the policy of social inclusion, proportional representation and equal social opportunity. The only option left to the ordinary Nepalis is to migrate to the international job market to eke out livelihood and support families and the nation or choose a party which can bridge the gap between promise and practice and adopt people-oriented approach to governance. The resolution of these tensions requires state paternalism in welfare means without being bureaucratized and centralized in doling out public goods. In this sense, RSP must devise policy responses to reduce the short-term cost of living and raise long-term social and economic standards. If the modern economy serves only technocratic and corporate sectors, not the stakeholders, Nepali politics might turn combustible, populist and directionless and affect the performance of the political system.

State institutions and policy capture: Nepali political parties of all hues since 1991 adopted neo-liberal policies against liberal spirit of constitution and favored state restructuring, began to cut the social and economic role of the state and its mediating capacity to bridge the gulf between the public and private education, health and other amenities. It has built a consensus among NC, CPN-UML, all Madhes-based parties and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP). Only Jana Rastirya Jana Morcha Nepal which later transmuted into Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and Peasants and Workers Party remained outside the consensus where the former chose violent revolt against the negative effects of neoliberal policies to the poor, its nationalism, deviation from the policy of non-alignment, free-ride on the political process though collusion of interest groups, deep state agencies, politicians and rogue businessmen and appropriating the resources and key positions of the nation. But when the CPN (Maoist) party emerged in power following the signing of peace agreement their leaders had followed the same policies of privatization, denationalization, debureaucratization, deregulation and globalization policies followed by its predecessors and confiscated the capacity of Nepali state and the writ of participatory democracy by all-party committees at various scales thus replacing democracy by partocracy.  The welfare state of Nepal is claimed to sustain reformist politics and moderate the passion of both left radicalism and neo-liberal illiberalism but it failed as distribution of state spoils among mainstream parties captured policy. As a nation of diversity and hierarchy of people certain social and economic safeguards can marshal the support of the poor to democracy. The diversification and devolution of business and civil society and local services can enable Nepalis to learn the art of dialogue, participate in local institutions of governance, mobilize resources, build leadership and foster a self-governing polity thus preventing the drift of regime into rightward canon.

Antinomy between liberal constitution and illiberal neo-liberal ideology: Nepali constitution of 1990 had liberal disposition and the political classes have adopted neo-right policies and weakened the fiscal basis of Nepali state which later produced a conflict boom.  Ideologically, a rightward shift means political parties and their governments are adopting more right-leaning social and economic policies driven more by the international financial institutions’ conditionality than the contextual needs of Nepalis. It fleshed out the views that global trends have conditionalized this ideological swing in many parts of the world including in Nepal, often driven by bureaucratization of development operated along top-down model without the informed participation of people at the grassroots level resembling subsidiarity and principle of effect. Nepal is under pressure to address the rising expectation of people and define its own worldview shaped by Prithvi Narayan Shaha and refined by Panchasheel, the UN principles and the nonalignment.

Erosion of state autonomy and sovereignty: To avoid sliding into the nightmare of the state of nature, the end of politics through the legitimization violence and subordination of the weak against Nepali constitution, is possible when the state has monopoly on power to subdue chaos and the right to national self-determination in international affairs.  Only the high capacity of Nepali state can enable the government to implement Directive Principles and Policies of the state,  reconcile the diverse interests, preferences and identities of various social classes of society and attune security related, public administration, public institutions and private sectors in a web of coherence.  It can then prevent the fear of exploitation, domination, violence and needs deficits and enforce law. The constitutional authority of leadership approved by public opinion and electoral consent is vital to satisfy the requirement of input legitimacy. The weakness of performance owing to inter—intra-political party squabbles, frequent change of government and partisan distribution of state posts have weakened its internal autonomy while the boom of international institutions and their conflicting priorities have strained foreign policy effectiveness. The democratic regime largely followed Anglo-Saxon worldview and self-alienated from the genuine non-alignment. Prime Minister Shah prefers to restore these principles by forging cooperation and code and diversifying relations without tilting to any. The capacity building of Nepali state is especially important to follow economic and political rationality in serving the public and national interests. High capacity of Nepali state is important to provide essential services and vital goods in society so that people can pursue their choices. Real and functional democracy can balance the interest of the state for public order and society’s preference for freedom and justice. For this Nepali elites must cooperate on shared public interests despite their differences in party affiliation.  Institutional culture of democracy can liberate Nepalis from personalized authoritarianism of leaders, cage of poverty and create participatory institutional order where countless local and foreign institutions operate for various purposes. Personalized authoritarians who seek personal loyalty, not loyalty to the party, polity and the state weaken the foundation of democracy and local self-governance. Unlike the federal and provincial governments, local governments do not operate under the principle of zero-sum mentality. Because people living in the same space and community have shared a sense of space and concerns in many matters, willing to cooperate with each other out of needs and necessity and build a culture of freedom steeped into public and national interests without undesirably veering to the right or its extreme opposite left.

Author Dahal is retired Associate Professor of Political Science, Tribhuvan University