Capacity Building and Conflict Management in Nepal

Between 1996 - 2006 Nepal experienced violent conflict. The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) initiated an armed insurgency drawing support from other groups in society, such as ethnic minorities, thus enlarging their capacity as a fighting and political force. After having introduced a multi-party democracy system in 1990 and drafted a new constitution, Nepal went from an aspiring democracy, to a state in internal turmoil. The situation was that the internal actors: the Maoists, the political parties and an array of other actors (often excluded from power), were locked in a conflict where the core issues that had to be addressed were the division of power, minority rights, and gender issues among others. In addition to the internal political conditions, the geo-political position of the Himalayan State meant that developments in Nepal were of direct interest to two regional hegemons: China and India. Thus the development of the conflict in Nepal was not only a question of national security, but also of regional stability.