Democratic breakdown

The chase for power has made each individual wielding authority turn against democratic institutions.

In their book How Democracies Die , Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt write, “Democracies work best—and survive longer—where constitutions are reinforced by unwritten democratic norms.” Such norms work best where the institutions that are supposed to strengthen democracy function well. In Nepal, however, we see a continuous failure of these institutions to honour even the norms laid down in the constitution. The years after the promulgation of the new constitution in 2015, particularly the past five years after the first Parliament came into being, have been marked by a continuous assault on democratic institutions. Seemingly no state institution is free of crisis. The hope created by adopting federal democratic republicanism, especially after the promulgation of the constitution, continues to be dashed a bit every day.