News, Views From Nepal

Yuba Nath Lamsal There is no dearth of political analysts both in the western and oriental societies, who advocate liberal democracy. They often tend to equate democracy with capitalism. The importunity with which these pundits pursue their treatise on democracy and capitalism sometimes creates confusion in the understanding of democracy. Capitalism and democracy are two different sets of ideas, which represent two different fields. Capitalism is an economic system in which market is the ruler and profit counts more than anything else. Democracy is a political system that is supposed to be more welfare-oriented, which is in stark contrast to the basic tenets of capitalism. Proponents are of the view that capitalism is not merely economics but also a political and social system, which defends individual rights and freedom of citizens in all fronts and sectors. However, capitalism has to do more with the economics based on market authoritarianism and a little to do with the social fac...

Yuba Nath Lamsal Political parties are founded on particular ideology for which they advance their activities. Ideology and values are the soul of political parties based on which they train their cadres, workers and supporters to achieve their policy goal as well as shape their life style. It is the ideology and values that make a political party distinct and different from others. Power Politics Originally, our political parties, too, were founded on certain ideological ground and the leaders, at least in the initial days, followed these ideals and accordingly shaped their thinking and life styles.  However, as the days and years passed and Nepal entered into a new political phase, especially after the 1990 political change, ideals slowly started fading in the politics of Nepal. Ideology, political ideals and morality were replaced by opportunism guided by the motive of power politics. In the name of pragmatism, the political parties and leaders started adjusting their thin...

Yuba Nath Lamsal Foreign policy and diplomatic conduct in the pre-unification era of Nepal was basically categorised into two broad types—relationship with principalities within what once used to be a unified Nepal and relationship with Tibet, China and principalities of India. While the relationship and diplomacy with states within Nepal were characterised by suspicion, treachery, deceit and rivalry, the relationship with Tibet, China, and the Indian states was based on the strategy for survival, which mainly sought to defend the territorial control and protect trade especially with Tibet. The trade with Tibet was the main source of income and each state always scrambled to control the trade with Tibet. The state that controlled the trade route to Tibet also controlled the revenue. Several wars were, thus, fought with Tibet in different interval of time basically for trade interest. Strong Malla Kingdoms Nepal was divided into over 50 tiny principalities prior to the unification ...