SUMMARY

The roots of the Nepalese insurgency originate in the turbulent transition from an absolutist system of monarchy to a constitutional monarchy under multi-party democracy. The present system was introduced in 1990, following protests for democracy by a broadly supported "peoples movement." Due to reluctance among the ruling forces to embrace more open economic and political systems, vague constitutional power-sharing arrangements between the king and the parliament have been common. Thus, a deeply divided political landscape has emerged as the system has been flawed by a lack of stability and unrealized expectations. The political vulnerability has been aggravated by the enormous poverty in the country.

The conflict between the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) and the Government of Nepal concerned the governance of the country (see Nepal: Government). The political unrest and numerous governmental shifts during the 1990’s crippled the development of the country, thus the onset of CPN-M's armed uprising. When King Gyanendra, with the help of the military, took over the political power in 2001, CPN-M increased its violent activities. As the king chose to replace the government with decision-makers who were loyal but unable to repress CPN-M, tensions between the monarch and the republican Maoists increased.

The Government of Nepal has targeted civilians in their campaign against the uprising Maoist guerrilla insurgents. As the operations have focused on effectiveness, suspicions of CPN-M affiliations have generally been enough for killings. No trials of suspected CPN-M followers and impunity for crimes committed by the state forces deteriorated the situation for the civilians.

The Government of Nepal first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 1996, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. After numerous minor incidents throughout the year, the threshold was reached on 17 November that year, when police forces killed five civilians in the Rolpa district.