On Nepali "Democracy": Its Terminology, History, and Status Quo

• 名和 克郎

Bibliographic Information

Other Title

• <特集論文>ネパールの「デモクラシー」を巡って : 用語・歴史・現状

Abstract

This paper tries to give a preliminary glimpse of the history and status of "democracy" in Nepal. After briefly summarizing the political history of Nepal after 1951, I first follow how each political regime in Nepal from the latter half of the twentieth century, including the Panchayat regime, has defined itself in terms of "democracy, " pointing out that what has been contested is what and how the democracy in Nepal should be. Secondly I trace the changing usages of prajatantra and loktantra, the two terms used as Nepali equivalents of the English term "democracy", in relation to two other terms, rajtantra (monarchy) and ganatantra (republic). Then I briefly review the complexity of "minorities" and minority politics in Nepal, focusing on Adivasi Janajati, Dalit, and Madhesi. I also locate the act of voting in Nepal within a wider range of political activities from meeting to bandh, touching upon the local functions of political parties since 1990 in particular. Finally I give some brief comments on the result of the 2013 Constituent Assembly Election, which clearly shows that Nepali people generally supported democracy despite their frequent distrust of politicians and political parties.

Journal

• 現代インド研究 = Contemporary India

  現代インド研究 = Contemporary India 5 69-87, 2015-02-27

  人間文化研究機構地域研究推進事業「現代インド地域研究」

Keywords

• 360

Details

• CRID: 1390290699820375040
• NII Article ID: 120005844232
• NII Book ID: AA12520400
• ISSN: 21859833
• DOI: 10.14989/216642
• HANDLE: 2433/216642
• Text Lang: ja
• Data Source:
  • JaLC
  • IRDB
  • CiNii Articles
  • KAKEN