Nurturing Vital Links Of Political Stability

Securing political stability, good governance and justice delivery are the watchwords of Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda. Political stability is a condition characterised by the smooth functioning of civic and political institutions and the government and avoiding any atrophy for a relatively long period of time. Its primary precondition is the creation of a constitutional culture whereby roles and responsibilities of all actors — state, market, civil society, people in general and international community as external stakeholders — is well demarcated and they faultlessly consort policies and action for the collective attainment of public good to be shared by all Nepalis regardless of condition and cost. 

Neutrality of state institutions from partisan prejudice and their impartial act fulfil the constitutional rights of Nepalis, enabling them to use freedom of action and perform duties to others. Now they are demanding the constitutional behaviour of all so that varied interests of societal sub-systems are optimised and vices of spoilers, free-riders, predators and thieves of state who oppose stability are barred or penalised. It helps reconcile individual liberty with the public good. A lively associational life of Nepalis is vital to put a curb on unregulated opportunism of authorities and orient them to institutional culture of dharma. Value consensus of all political parties in the constitution can offer a hope of stability rather than an elite bargain for power equation which has so far only lingered in transitional politics.

Democratic choice

It did not ease either social transformation or democratic choice for the people. The electoral choice has incubated only a style of hopeless paternalism. Political stability has wider effects than the stability of coalition government. The credibility of the political regime can be a source of political stability if Nepali leaders shoulder the responsibility to bridge the gap between their promises and actual performance. Instability occurs when each political party seeks to maximise its gain without considering its competitor and general mass. This spectacle robs them of the virtue of democratic leadership to alleviate the poor’s burden of existence and incurs a huge price to be paid by the nation and people. 

It scares both native and foreign investors -- the locomotives of economic transformation.

Conquering the drag on economic resilience is Nepal’s critical policy challenge for leaders who are worried with the roiling debate on good governance by abolishing crime, corruption, capital flight and abuse of human rights. The struggle for social justice inscribed in constitution remains an unfinished project. Nepal can achieve political stability if the edifice of its democracy set up on ecological, social, gender and intergenerational justice and reciprocity is buttressed up and the polity creates more winners than losers of the political game. Ironically, the nation presents a shifting site of political elites and recurrent agitations against the establishment as a way to change the regime and constitution, not evolving a culture of peaceful compromise of legitimate interests in the golden mean thus throttling the hope of political stability.

The elongated transitional politics, irresolution of conflict residues and use of instability as a bargaining tool for power feed political instability. In no way it can construct a rational political order trusted by all major groups of the nation.  The absence of social learning will let the untreated causes of conflicts jerk all-inclusive reconciliation and perturb the fabric of political stability. Political stability can occur in Nepal if the scale of engagement of people balances the ability of political parties and civic institutions to absorb them, even the newly enfranchised population. The tendency of educated Nepalis to participate in politics outside institutional frame of parties such as civil society, media, professional bodies and social activism indicates skewed party institutionalisation, poor political socialisation, lack of deliberative and feedback culture, arbitrary reading of party statutes, weakness in the management of factions and personalized nature of top leadership.

When party institutions become weak marked by off beam, pusillanimous or egotistic leaders, democracy turns vulnerable to the risk of radicalism, populism, identity politics and post-modern turmoil where inflated demands are articulated with no intention to satisfy. Likewise, family-based politics is corrosive to democratic opportunity for ordinary people and their social mobility. It turns them into non-stakeholders of democratic process. In this sense, political stability requires sustained acculturation of leaders and people to democratic norms offering educational opportunities to level up the playing field. In a highly polarised zero-sum politics of Nepal in which both the government and the opposition are constituted by the establishment, popular voices are articulated by the anti-establishment current, social movement forces, even media and small political parties. 

The establishment composed of Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and Maoist-Centre for sharing the state power has opened sharp contradictions within them. The rival side in each faction of the party feels alienated by the use of the incumbent's clout against it and delinking objective laws from subjective political preferences. The anti-incumbent forces are planning a series of protests thus turning the mood of Nepali politics combustible. Ordinary Nepalis, let down by undelivered promises, are adding vigour to this mood. In a diverse society like Nepal with inbuilt social checks, leaders should avoid being seen as provocateur for fear of exposure which might cut their legitimacy. Political stability demands institutional and policy robustness and response so that people feel that government acts in an impersonal manner and they are not subordinated to might against their rights. 

 There is no substitute for Nepalis with good intentions to serve as a guard of political power.  Popular sovereignty inherent in them demands to play the role of active citizenship. The long-term structural factors behind Nepal’s political instability, economic inertia and social rant and rave are unlikely to encourage positive change with already high unemployment, poverty, labour migration, drain of capital, brain and businessmen, shrinking working population within the nation and productivity decline in both agriculture and industry thus leaving Nepal in the international backwater. 

A judicious balance in inputs and outputs can be an indicator of political stability as people find their concerns satisfied and thus build trust in the polity. This, however, requires a green, participatory, productive and decentralised economy, not the consumerist and revenue-based one which only swells food scarcity, unemployment, trade imbalance, debt and dependence thus exhausting the foundation of the nation. Excessive external dependence has already clutched the policy prerogative of the Nepali parliament and political parties. The universal access of Nepalis to the public good can spawn optimal equality and ability to compete in the circulation of wealth and political power and hence eases adequate social mobility. 

The constitution has a grand objective to vault the ambition of Nepalis but the kleptocratic networks both inside and outside the polity have drained critical resources and confiscated the capacity of Nepali stage to spur distributive justice. This has infantalised Nepali democracy, bureaucratised its operation and demonstrated the inability of the political class to consciously reflect on the national human condition. As a result, personal passion has dominated the search for public good, inverting democratic politics and sapping the vital links of political stability.

Political stability in Nepal is achieved by strengthening the vital links of Nepali state to society, assertion of national will against internal and external rivals and fulfilling various functions -- taxation, national conscription, immigration control, monopoly on power and punishment, loyalty of people, international recognition and national determination of politics, laws and public policies. Its capacity in keeping its autonomy from special interest groups, entrenchment in society and an ability to create public order -- can abolish the crisis of governability.  Capacity building of Nepali state demands establishing a robust legal framework and transparency affirmed by the public’s right to information. 

The stabilisation of state authority presupposes the unified application of law in the entire society through the mobilisation of its centripetal forces and restoring democratic equilibrium between the establishment and varied oppositions. It outlaws the deadly agents of Nepali polity which converts public interests into private benefits and pushes political stability on the edge of an abyss. This means political stability entails the socialisation of subsidiary groups and political parties as per the rules of constitution and leaders are capable of overcoming both performance and rationality deficits.

Procedural fairness

Restoring political stability in Nepal hinges on keeping procedural fairness of public institutions, their autonomy, integrity and consistency in service orientation so that it can retain politics in the middle-of- the-road to balance the cherished culture and the glitter of modernity. This is possible when it is capable of preventing political parties from capturing the polity for personal and clientele interests. Obviously, a national integrity system rooted in power balance and checks improves the likelihood of stability by enhancing resource collection, allocation, investment and regeneration. It sets the coherence of public admin and politics, admin of justice independent of partisan, pecuniary and personal bias, formation of a virtuous circle of hard institutions of the state affirming loyalty and duty to it and the resilience of soft spiritual, social and cultural capital of Nepali society. 

Nothing becomes resonant and resourceful unless it relates to historical roots of Nepalis’ tolerance of diversity, dealing with the transition from violence to civil peace and even eliminating future sources of violence. Constitutional state represents the general interest of society, an equal concern of all citizens. As a distributive regime it improves the indicators of progress. By bridging the gap between the winners and losers of the election, government and opposition and haves and have-nots it helps to create a virtuous circle between the state, economy and citizenship in the national space and becomes a bedrock of stout political stability. 

(Former Reader at the Department of Political Science, TU, Dahal writes on political and social issues.)