Communist Parties and Threat to Democracy in Nepal: A Historical Analysis, 1949–2023

Abstract

Communist parties are major actors in Nepali politics. This study is an attempt to explore if they pose a threat to democracy in Nepal given that communist parties are formed to operate a dictatorship of the proletariat. Findings suggest that democracy in Nepal is not under threat from communist parties for three reasons. First, communist parties in Nepal have contributed more to the arrival of democracy than its departure. Second, communist parties dominant in current Nepali politics have accepted democracy as an ideology. Third, communist parties and leaders have strongly stood up against the authoritarian tendency crept into the communist movement of Nepal. Since this study is the first exclusive research on the relationship between democracy and communist parties in Nepal, this work makes an original contribution to the Nepali political literature. This study also makes an original contribution to the general democratization literature by refuting the assumption that democracy can never coexist with communist parties. Furthermore, this study invites more research on the relationship between democracy and communist parties from other democratic countries that have communist parties. The method used in this study is historical analysis.