JSPES, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Winter 2005 )
pp. 459-496

Economic & Legal Impact of Conflict on States & People in South Asia with Specific Reference to Nepal

Bishwambher Pyakuryal and Kishor Uprety

For almost a decade, the Kingdom of Nepal has been confronting a civil war (termed People’s War) launched by the Maoist faction of the Communist Party of Nepal, with a view to replace the current political system of governance (multi-party democracy with a constitutional monarchy – put in place in 1990) by a secular communist republic. Relying essentially on guerilla methods and tactics, the Maoists have successfully gained of a vast territorial area, and this has created a type of triangular power equation in the country. Nepal’s experience is in a number of ways similar to that of other South Asian countries which have also long suffered from civil war, both from the standpoint of a composite of cause and effect as well as the methods used to attempt conflict management. Against the background of a commonalty of problems, which occasionally overlap, this article attempts to assess the legal and economic implications of the decade-long conflict on Nepal’s social and political governance, along with some suggestions in favor of peace-making.