This book makes a comprehensive and critical assessment of Nepal’s struggle for democracy. Looking into the imperatives of democracy in general and Nepal’s experiences in particular, it examines the role of political parties, focusing on their policies and politics vis-à-vis the successive phases of democratic experiments.

Providing deep insights into the immediate sequence of events leading to the first parliamentary elections and formation of government, it deals with Nepal’s experiment with partyless Panchayati system, the 1990 Movement for Restoration of Democracy, and functioning of multiparty democratic governments. Also, it gives a historical context of the Maoist insurgency in the country.