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

• A constitutional division of power
between the center and the
provinces.
• Self rule within the provinces and
shared rule at the center.
• No unilateral change in the
rules either by the center or by
the provinces. Changing the
rules requires a constitutional
amendment in which both the
center and the provinces will have
a role.
I. 2. Federal countries are constituted
by the ‘coming together’ of previously
independent political units (i.e. USA,
Switzerland etc) to achieve a common goal,
or by the ‘holding together’ of earlier subpolitical/administrative
units (i.e. India,
Belgium, Spain, Austria etc) to manage social
diversity. There are altogether 28 federal
countries in the world.
I. 3. Logic and rationale for transforming
Nepal into a federal country
• Three major reasons why Nepal is
moving towards a federal path:
• To address the rising aspirations
of identity of Nepal’s ethnically,
linguistically, culturally and
regionally diverse social groups,
and to manage the country’s
diversity.
• To create a strong foundation
for democracy by constituting a
political structure at the provincial
level.
• To create political economy units
for expansion and distribution of
services to the people.
I. 4. Transition towards federalism in
three stages
Stage 1: Constitutional division
of power between center and
provinces;
Stage 2: Designing new laws
and amending existing laws to
implement a federal structure;
Stage3: Creation of the political
and administrative structure of the
provinces.
I. 5. Possible consequences of heading
towards a federal path
• Expansion of the bases of state
authority to the provincial level to
address the collective aspirations
of caste/ethnic groups.
• Increase in the sense of ownership
of the state and nation of Nepal.
• Speed up in economic
development.
• Increase in the role of regional
parties and decrease in the role of
national parties.
• Center may remain strong as its
jurisdiction extends throughout
the entire country.
• Possible ethnicization in politics
and adverse impact on social
harmony.
• Possible reduction in the interprovincial
mobility of citizens.
• Provincial politics may have
serious problems of nepotism,
favoritism and corruption if not
properly handled.
• Creating a culture conducive to
federalism is the most challenging
task.
2 Federalism Dialogues Series 5