STATEBUILDING AND PEACEBUILDING IN NEPAL, 1990-2012: ANATOMY OF A DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION by Shiva Hari Dahal A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of George Mason University in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Conflict Analysis and Resolution Committee: ___________________________________________ Chair of Committee ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Graduate Program Director ___________________________________________ Dean, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution Date: _____________________________________ Fall Semester 2013 George Mason University Fairfax, VA Statebuilding and Peacebuilding in Nepal, 1990-2012: Anatomy of a Democratic Transition A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at George Mason University By Shiva Hari Dahal Master of Arts University of Notre Dame, 1999 Bachelor of Arts Tribhuvan University, 1989 Director: Professor Dennis Sandole School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution Fall Semester 2013 George Mason University Fairfax, VA Copyright © 2013 Shiva Hari Dahal All Rights Reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to kindly acknowledge the help and generous support of the people and institutions around me who have encouraged me to complete this doctoral dissertation and without whose support, the writing of this dissertation would not have been possible. I am grateful to give a particular mention to those people who have been of the highest level of support to me in the course of writing this dissertation. This dissertation would not have been possible without the tremendous help, patience and kind support of my principal supervisor, Professor Dennis Sandole as well as the good advice, friendship and support of my supervisors Professor Kevin Avruch and Professor John Paden, all of whom hold a great level of sympathy for me and have tremendous knowledge of peacebuilding and statebuilding, which is the focus of the research. I am extremely grateful for my Dissertation Committee for their invaluable support both on a personal and academic level. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to the University’s administration for considering my request for time extension, which expired in January 2013. Without their kind consideration for my request, all my efforts would have been in vain. In this way, I am highly grateful to Professor Sandra Cheldelin, Dr. Juliette R Shedd and all the personnel at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR). My sincere thanks go to Dr. David Alpher and I am highly grateful for his precious time, tremendous support and friendly encouragement to complete my dissertation. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr Mark Magellan and Mr. Mark Hardee for their precious time for editing my dissertation. My similar thanks goes to Dr. Maneshka Eliatamby, Dr Silvia Susnjic and Mr Johnny Mack, all of those in the S-CAR community, George Mason University, who encouraged me to complete my research. National Peace Campaign (NPC), a Kathmandu-based non-governmental organization, deserves special thanks as well. They have provided me their space, rare literature and even organized seminars with key stakeholders so that I might present my preliminary findings for validation. Without their support, my research would be incomplete. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr Laxmi Mishra, Mr Lekhanath Bhandari and Mr Megharaj Bhandari, members of Nepali community living in Washington, DC areas, for their invaluable support during my stay in the US for the study. Similarly, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all seventy-six interviewees for their valuable iii time and contribution and for sharing their rich experiences. I thank Mr. Sunil Shah, Mr Nirmal Chongbang and Mr Rohit Choudhary for their tremendous help and cooperation during my field research in and out of the Kathmandu Valley. Without their generous support, I would not have been able to complete the field-work. Above all, I would like express my heartfelt thanks to my wife, Ambika Pokharel, for her great patience and encouragement and personal support to me at all times. My expression of thanks rests upon my family members, parents, sisters and brothers who have given me unequivocal support and encouragement throughout the time of writing this dissertation. Shiva Hari Dahal November 22, 2013, Arlington iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. xi ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ..................................................................................... xii ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... xv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1 1. Background .............................................................................................................. 1 2. Research Hypotheses and Research Question ......................................................... 7 3. Research Objectives ............................................................................................... 11 4. Research Methodology .......................................................................................... 14 4.1 Archival Data ................................................................................................... 14 4.2 Interviews ......................................................................................................... 15 4.3 Frameworks of Analysis .................................................................................. 16 5. Outline of the Chapters .......................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 2: THEORIES ....................................................................................................... 23 1. Peacebuilding ......................................................................................................... 30 v 2. Statebuilding .......................................................................................................... 39 3. Dynamics of Statebuilding and Peacebuilding ...................................................... 49 4. Social Identity ........................................................................................................ 58 5. Democratization ..................................................................................................... 68 6. Legitimacy ............................................................................................................. 75 CHAPTER 3: THE CASE STUDY ........................................................................................... 84 1. Historical Overview of Nepal ................................................................................ 85 2. Revolution of 1951 until People’s Uprising in 1990 ............................................. 92 3. On Statebuilding and Peacebuilding .................................................................... 100 3.1 Constitutional Evolution ................................................................................ 101 3.2 Social Movements in Nepal ........................................................................... 104 4. Beginning of the Republican Era ......................................................................... 125 4.1 UCPN (Maoist)’s People’s War ..................................................................... 125 4.2 People’s Uprising 2006 (Janaandolan II) ...................................................... 136 4.3 The Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA), 2006 ........................................... 143 4.4 The Interim Constitution 2007 ....................................................................... 152 4.5 The Constituent Assembly, 2008 ................................................................... 162 5. Causal Factors to the Failure of Negotiation and Collapse of CA ....................... 170 5.1 The Consequences of Election Results .......................................................... 172 vi 5.2 The Procedures of the Constituent Assembly ................................................ 177 5.3 Negotiation outside of the Constituent Assembly ......................................... 185 5.4 Politics of the Judiciary .................................................................................. 191 5.5 The Foreign Interventions .............................................................................. 199 5.6 The Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion ........................................................ 236 CHAPTER 4: INTERVIEWS ................................................................................................. 248 1. Selection Criteria of Interview Respondents ....................................................... 250 2. Analysis of Closed-ended Questions ................................................................... 252 3. Analysis of Open-ended Questions ...................................................................... 264 4. Informal Interview with Key Political Actors ....................................................