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E. II.6.a. Nepal, 1990

The Movement for the Restoration of Democracy in Nepal, inspired by events in Eastern Europe, launched a campaign in 1990, ‘the stir’, to end the panchayat (council) system imposed by the monarchy, restore multi-party democracy and limit the king’s powers. (There had been attempts to curb the power of the monarchy and introduce parliamentary democracy – encouraged by India’s achievement of independence – since the late 1940s, but monarchical control through the nominally democratic panchayat form was reasserted in 1962, and political parties banned.) After mass demonstrations and the calling of two general strikes between February and April 1990, the King lifted the ban on political parties in April and approved a new draft constitution in September.

Brown, Louise T., The Challenge to Democracy in Nepal, New York, Routledge, 1996, pp. 239

Covers historical background, earlier attempts at democratization and the evolution of political parties. It draws on extensive interviews. See especially chapter 5 for the resistance movement.
Koirala, Niranjan, Nepal in 1990: End of an Era, Asian Survey, Vol. 31, issue (February), 1991, pp. 134-139

See also Hutt, Michael , Drafting the Nepal Constitution, 1990 Asian Survey, 1991, pp. 1020-1039 .
Parajulee, Ramjee P., The Democratic Transition in Nepal, Lanham MD, Rowman and Littlefield, 2000, pp. 382

Assessment drawing on survey data and giving weight to analysis of impact of external factors on internal forces. See Chapter 2 for the people power movement.
Raeper, William ; Hoftun, Martin, Spring Awakening: An Account of the 1990 Revolution in Nepal, New Delhi, Viking, 1992, pp. 242

Routledge, Paul, A spatiality of resistances: theory and practice in Nepal’s revolution in 1990, In Keith, Michael ; Pile, Steven , Geographies of Resistance London, Routledge, , 1997, pp. 68-86

See also:

Kurt Schock, Unarmed Insurrections: People Power Movements in Nondemocracies, (A. 1.b. Strategic Theory, Dynamics, Methods and Movements), describes developments in Nepal 1990 as an example of varied and imaginative unarmed resistance, and assesses how the challenge was sustained and the role of external factors (making comparisons with Thailand in the early 1990s), see pp. 121-25 and 130-41.