Can Gen Z protests spark a clean democracy in Nepal?
Nepal today stands at a crossroads. Its Gen Z–led protests have shaken the political class, corruption scandals have eroded trust, and the economy remains vulnerable to both internal dysfunction and external manipulation.
Nepal is a federal democratic republic with a multi-party parliamentary system, with a mix of proportional representation and ‘winner takes all’ models, since the end of the monarchy in 2008.
Consequently, its political history has been marked by instability, with frequent changes in government due to shifting coalitions.
The same set of 3 PMs from Nepali Congress and Communist parties (owing allegiance to China) have been recycled in power in a musical chair mode since 2015.
The people, especially the youth, are frustrated with rampant corruption regardless of who was in power, high unemployment, and a perceived disconnect between the political elite and the general population.
This has fuelled the latest widespread protests led by Gen Z, demanding accountability and systemic change.
This is not unique to Nepal. Democracies across the world, from the US, Europe, Asia, and Africa, have frequently been swamped by corruption, nepotism, and money power.
What sets Nepal apart is its small size, very high levels of unemployment, and excessive migration of youth.
If reformed sincerely, it can become a global model of a performance-based democracy.
Its neighbour India, despite its very large size and scale, is a much stable functional democracy with a reasonably good and consistent economic performance, though corruption and unemployment are significantly present, especially at the state level.
Nepal’s crisis can still be turned into an opportunity, with a comprehensive blueprint.
1. Mother of all reforms: Clean party funding
The root of corruption is the link between the need for big money and politics. Unless this is broken, every other reform will eventually be hijacked. Nepal can:
- Adopt public, transparent state funding of political parties based on vote share and verified membership. A certain % of the national budget can be formally allocated to fund this instead of the stealthy corruption, which results in poor quality of services.
- Establish an Independent Party-Finance Regulator with real-time disclosures.
- Set up fast-track courts to prosecute and punish corruption and political crimes speedily.
This one reform alone will reduce the incentive for corruption, lead to good governance and delivery of good quality services, and create credibility in the political class.
I have explained this possible reform in one of my previous articles in some detail[1].
2. Electoral & institutional reforms
To strengthen democracy beyond elections:
- Minimise or abolish proportional representation that leads to frequent changes of governments. Representation for minorities and marginalised groups can be ensured through the reservation of seats on a rotational basis, as done by India.
- Tighten anti-defection laws to stop horse-trading.
- Mandate public debates, asset disclosures, and beneficial ownership declarations.
- Digitize case management to unclog courts and protect honest civil servants through merit-based contracts.
3. Prevent the agitation from being hijacked by foreign governments & Deep State
This region is of interest to big powers despite Nepal’s tiny size. Nepal should safeguard its national interests and sovereignty and not become a pawn in the big power rivalry, resisting their financial and other inducements.
4. Delivery-oriented governance, esp jobs
Integrity alone is not enough; citizens need results. Nepal should:
- Create measurable targets in respect of jobs, roads, schools, agri co-ops, tourism, energy, healthcare, etc, and deliver.
- Publish a 100-Day Dashboard and link ministerial survival to outcomes.
- Digitize procurement, adopt open contracting, and fast-track dispute resolution.
- Recruit scarce skills laterally into government while protecting honest officers.
5. Youth as stakeholders, not street protesters
The energy of Gen Z must be channelled constructively, as below:
- Vest the National Youth Council with consultative powers on jobs, education, etc.
- Protect the right to peaceful assembly, while adopting clear protocols against violence and platform bans.
6. Media, money, and black-money choke points
- Establish a beneficial ownership registry for companies, NGOs, and media outlets to ensure accountability.
- Create transparency in political advertising markets.
- Tackle illicit financial flows through international cooperation under the UN Anti-Corruption Convention.
- Adopt an open-data by default policy for budgets, procurement, and constituency-level spending.
7. Why Nepal can lead the world
- It has the ‘small country advantage’; reforms can be implemented faster and monitored more easily.
- Global need: democracies everywhere are collapsing under corporate and money power; Nepal can pioneer an alternative model.
- The most important of all: Public mood is ripe. The current crisis presents Nepal a unique opportunity not only to reform itself but also to pioneer a new and better model of democracy for the world to consider for wider adoption. Nepal should not allow this major crisis to go to waste.
If Nepal enacts clean political funding, co-op-driven economic sovereignty, and delivery-focused governance, it will create a new kind of democracy: one that is not hijacked by any foreign deep state, not paralyzed by corruption, and not consumed by populism.
Instead, it will be a performance-driven democracy, rooted in integrity, powered by citizens, and admired by the world.
A good one-line manifesto for Nepal
“We will clean the politics of corruption, and focus on creating jobs, with the start of delivery of results that can be measured in 100 days.
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
Reference:
[1] Mother Of All Reforms: Will PM Modi Do It? – Jul 09, 2019, PGurus.com
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