Polar opposites? NGOs, left parties and the fight for social change in Nepal

Main author: Ismail, Feyzi
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-23775
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
description In the early 1990s, when NGOs were rising to prominence as an ostensible force for social change in Nepal, the Maoists were also beginning to organise, and denounced NGOs as agents of imperialism. The Maoists came to prominence by fighting a People’s War launched in 1996, with the intention of improving life for the poor peasant and working-class majority. But after a decade-long struggle, the Maoists became incorporated into the parliamentary system. While Nepal’s first democratic revolution in 1990 met formal, popular political demands, which were consolidated in a subsequent revolution in 2006 overthrowing the monarchy and bringing the People’s War to an end, there was little socio-economic progress for the vast majority. The argument advanced in this article is that this lack of progress relied on the interplay of two phenomena: an anti-Maoist alliance consisting of the international community, the domestic ruling elite and NGOs, and a fundamental ambiguity at the heart of the Maoists’ political theory.
format Journal Article
author Ismail, Feyzi
author_facet Ismail, Feyzi
authorStr Ismail, Feyzi
author_letter Ismail, Feyzi
title Polar opposites? NGOs, left parties and the fight for social change in Nepal
publisher Sage
publishDate 2017
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/23775/