English - Support to Participatory Constitution Building in Nepal ...

Introductory Note to Nepal’s Federalism
Dialogues
March-December 2010
Under the initiative of the Center for Constitutional Dialogue (CCD) and
the Civil Society Outreach (CSO) programme of UNDP/Nepal, federalism
dialogues were held in all of Nepal’s proposed fourteen provinces. The
main objective of the programme was to organize informed and reasonbased
dialogue between experts and provincial level stakeholders
(political party leaders, civil society members, ethnic activists etc.)
about the concept and global experiences of federalism in general and
the federal structure for Nepal proposed by the Constituent Assembly
(CA)’s Committee on State Restructuring and Distribution of State Power
(CSRDSP), in particular.
A strength of the programme was that
participants carried out a critical review
of CSRDSP’s overall proposal for a federal
division of Nepal, and also provided specific
feedback on their own particular provinces.
At the outset, the experts informed the
participants about different aspects of
federalism. The dialogue was organized so
that the experts presented their lectures in
four sessions during the first day and a half,
and the participants shared their thoughts
during the remaining day and a half.
Participants’ opinions and considerations
are largely covered in the subsequent 14
volumes. This introductory section covers
the lecture notes, prepared and presented
by the experts (Prof. Krishna Khanal and Prof.
Krishna Hachhethu) during the dialogues.
I. Nepal: Journey towards a
Federal Path
I. 1. Understanding federalism
• A single entity in the global map
of countries but incorporating the
existence of two political units,
each with their separate territory,
administration and political
structure.
• Rule by both the center and the
provinces. Rule by the province is
confined to its territory, but rule
by the center covers the entire
country.
Proposed Tamuwan Province Report 1