News, Views From Nepal

Uncertainty further deepens in Nepalese politics as political parties continue to lock horns and keep on sticking to their old agendas and stances.   Divergence on issues and agendas is natural in a pluralist democracy like ours but it should not lead to confrontation.   Given the nature of divergence in the present political context of Nepal, it is likely to lead to a situation of a worse crisis and conflict in near future. The constitution writing process appears to be in limbo as parties fail to reach a consensus or compromise on some disputed issues concerning n the new constitution that remains to be settled. In the present context and given the nature of issues, consensus is not likely to be reached very easily. But parties can arrive at a conclusion on ways and methods to settle the disputed issues so that the constitution can be delivered and be owned up by larger majority of people, if not by all. Federalism is the crux of issue that has stalled the entire...

Niccolò Machiavelli is a 15 th century’s political critic of Florence (now Italy), who is known more for his negative role in politics. Machiavelli often used negative term to characterize unscrupulous politicians, which is best described in his masterpiece ‘The Prince’. In his political treatise, Machiavelli advocated hawkish, chauvinist and feudal approach in dealing with political, social, political, cultural issues as well as the matters concerning statecraft. His political thesis, which is known as ‘Machiavellism’   in the present political lexicon, has earned the infamy of championing the unruly approach in political dictum—often equated with political deceit and brutality. According to Machiavelli, politics is the art of cunning. Rulers make promises but hardly any of them keep them once they go to power. Successful rulers are those who make most promises but keep them the least. Politicians and rulers become successful only if they cunningly manipulate people’s min...