Blut im Tausch für Demokratie: Der Kampf um eine neue Verfassung in Nepal 1990

Abstract In "the only Hindu kingdom of the world", Nepal, radical political changes of a peculiar kind occurred in 1990: within a year a carefully planned "People’s Movement" not only brought about the overthrow of the so-called "partyless Panchayat system" but also the drafting and eventual enactment of a new constitution which transferred the sovereign powers to the people while at the same time reaffirming (and redefining) the institution of monarchy. The author, who witnessed this process as a resident in Kathmandu, describes the dynamics of the movement, which was launched in a nonviolent, Gandhian spirit but was answered with brute force by the police. After events finally escalated in a bloody massacre in front of the royal palace, where many demonstrators were shot, the king yielded, lifted the ban on political parties and established an interim government which had the task of drafting a new constitution and preparing free and fair elections. Since - in accordance with the old constitution - the king still had all sovereign powers until the promulgation of the new consitution, the interim government, representing the interests of the movement, dependend on the goodwill of the palace. Thus, in the absence of a popular mandate through elections, the government’s legitimacy - and with it that of the new constitution - remained ambivalent. In this situation popular notions of self-sacrifice (balidān) and martyrdom played an important role to fill the gap.