Dominated by a dynasty of Indian origin, the Malla, from the mid-14th century, Nepal was conquered by the Gurkhas in the 18th century. In 1816 the British imposed a semiprotectorate regime. In 1846 Prime Minister JB Rana surrendered his hereditary office and proclaimed himself mahārājā. The Rana were forced to abandon power in 1951, following pressure from the Indian government and an uprising led by the Nepali Congress Party (NCP), a socialist-inspired formation formed in 1946 by MP Koirala and supported by King Tribhuvana Bir Bikram (on the throne since 1911). The new government, formed by Koirala, had to face a situation of great instability and the Crown regained full powers in 1952-53 and in 1955-56. In 1955, Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah ascended the throne, enacting the country’s first Constitution. The government, still directed by Koirala, he initiated an agrarian reform, but following growing conflicts the king resumed the leadership of the government (1960), decreed a state of emergency (withdrawn in 1963) and abolished political parties. In 1962, with a new Constitution, the king imposed a system of basic political representation, divided into assemblies (panchayat). In 1972 the new king Birendra Bir Bikram Shah faced a growing demand for democratization, which exploded in the late 1970s.
According to localcollegeexplorer, the 1980s saw a worsening of the economic situation; in 1985 the NCP launched a new campaign to restore political freedoms, and in the following years a series of attacks aggravated the tension. The transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy (sanctioned by the new Constitution promulgated in 1990) opened a political phase characterized by the difficulty of the parties to establish stable governing coalitions and to initiate a policy of reform. Starting from 1997 unprecedented alliances between the Maoist Communist Party and right-wing forces and center-right governments followed. On the international level, the balance policy between Beijing and New Delhi continued, while relations with Bhutan remained critical.
In June 2001, Crown Prince Dipendra Bir Bikram exterminated the royal family and committed suicide; the throne passed to the king’s brother, Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, who in the face of clashes between the Maoist guerrillas and the army proclaimed a state of emergency, which he maintained until 2005 when he had to revoke it following numerous protests, also decreeing, the following year, the reopening of Parliament. In 2006, a peace agreement was signed which established the handover of weapons by guerrillas under UN supervision. In early 2007, a provisional constitution was approved and a coalition government formed; in December, a constitutional amendment set the country on the road to becoming a federal republic. The elections of April 2008 sanctioned the clear victory of the Maoist party, the Republic, chaired by Ram Baran Yadav.
The work of the first Assembly elected in 2008 to draft the new fundamental charter failed, a new assembly took office following the November 2013 elections. The Constitution was promulgated in September 2015, about four months after a devastating seismic episode that shocked the country, causing over 8,000 victims. After its entry into force, the Parliament elected K. Prasad Sharma Oli, of the Communist Party of Nepal, as Prime Minister in October, while a woman, B. Devi Bhandari, was elected to the presidency of the Republic. The consultations held in December 2017, the first since the entry into force of the new Constitution, recorded the clear victory of the left alliance formed by the Communist Party of Nepal and the Maoist Party.
Dictionary of History (2010)
Nepal A state of South Asia. Several royal dynasties followed one another since ancient times in the od region. Nepal, including the Licchavi and Malla. In 1769 the principality of Gorkha under Prithvi Narayan Shah (1742-75) reunified the Nepal by founding a kingdom with capital Kathmandu, which lasted until 2008. The shahs engaged in a policy of expansion towards S (Bhutan) and SE (Kashmir), which after the initial successes was arrested by Tibetans (1788-92, 1854-56), Sikhs (1809) and English (1814-16). They also implemented a strong internal centralization, failing however to neutralize the noble factions of the court, especially from the last quarter of the 18th century. they fought for power by relegating the king to a subordinate position. With the rise of Jung Bahadur (1846) a hereditary line of prime ministers was established, called Rana, who effectively ruled the Nepal until 1950. The Ranas found themselves facing the push of the British and from 1860 they accepted a sort of protectorate in which, in exchange for internal autonomy and military protection, they renounced an independent foreign policy and contributed to the army of British India with units of soldiers (the so-called Gurkhas). After the end of British colonial rule, King Tribhuvan (on the throne from 1911 to 1955) with the support of leader Nepalese in exile in India carried out a “revolution” (1950) which led to the end of the Rana regime. The subsequent negotiations between the sovereign and the party of the Nepali congress (NC) produced a Constitution (1959) and the first general elections. A government was formed led by Bisheshwar Prasad Koirala, but in 1960 it was dissolved by King Mahendra (1955-72); a new Constitution (1962) strengthened the power of the Crown and abolished the party system. Under Birendra (1975-2001) an elective National Assembly was established on a non-party basis; in 1990 the opposition forces launched a “popular movement” (Jana andolan) which achieved the reintroduction of an elected parliament on a multi-party basis. The 1990s saw the rise, especially in rural regions, of a revolutionary Maoist movement which, thanks to heated propaganda and merciless violence, it constituted a true parallel center of power. Led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as Prachanda (“the terrible”), the Maoists together with Baburam Bhattarai’s Samyukta jana morcha in 1996 unleashed a ruinous civil war that lasted ten years. The instability in the country worsened further after the 2001 massacre, in which the crown prince Dipendra almost entirely exterminated the royal family, himself being fatally wounded. In 2006, with the mediation of the UN, the Maoists and the government signed an agreement that provided for the Maoist representation in an interim government, in view of new constitutional reforms; in December 2007 the last king Gyanendra renounced his power and in the following elections of April 2008 there was a clear affirmation of the Maoists. The new Constitution, launched on May 18, 2008 and confirmed on May 23, it sanctioned the birth of a democratic federal republic and the definitive abolition of the monarchy. In July Ram Baran Yadav was elected president, while the head of the government became PK Dahal “Prachanda”, then resigned in May 2009.
