Nepal’s divisive new constitution: an existential crisis

Nepal’s new constitution, its first written by an elected body, was adopted on 20 September 2015. It took seven years and two Constituent Assemblies, the second of which passed it with close to a 90 per cent majority. However, key constituencies felt their interests were not adequately represented in that final vote. The circumstances of passage, less than five months after the earthquakes that devastated the central hills and killed more than 9,000, were deeply fraught... Crisis Group reported regularly on Nepal between 2003 and 2012, examining the evolution of the conflict, its domestic dynamics, the mechanics of resolving an armed conflict and the debates over the country’s transformation, as well as the influence of international actors. This report summarises the evolution of the federalism and inclusion debate since the collapse of the first CA in 2012 and assesses ways to mitigate the risks from unaddressed social discontent, in the absence of a viable constitutional settlement.