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

Conceptual frameworkreach a termination of hostilities and consolidate peace, understood asan absence of armed conflict. However, in the context of Nepal, it goesbeyond the definition of OCED.The CPA in Nepal has envisioned the restructuring of the state becauseit had failed to deliver basic state functions. Building state thereforebecame imperative. State building for the purpose of this chapter isdefined as visions, aims, strategies and actions purposefully orientedto build a legitimate, capable, effective and resilient Nepali state thatrequires fundamental shift on constitutional and regulatory framework,policy context, institutional arrangements and governing practices. Hence,state building requires restructuring of bureaucracy, judiciary, executiveand security of the nation and creation and strengthening of stateinstitutions. Even though some literatures use state building and nationbuilding interchangeably (Dobbins 2007), this chapter differentiates thesetwo concepts. Since nation building focuses rather on devising commonnational identity from within the plural ethnic, cultural, religious andpolitical identities, this chapter deals more with the aspects of statebuilding like content, structures and process.State building and peace building may share basic characteristics, butthere are vital differences between them (ODI 2009). State building isneeded for durable and just peace and stability and functional democracy.Three important components, i.e., political processes (to legitimise state),economic processes (to gain recovery and growth) and ensuring securityare crucial foundations in state building process.At present, Nepal is at the crossroad of critical transition from war[between the state and the UCPN (Maoist) for a decade (1996-2006)]to peace. Further, it faced a bitter Madhes revolt in 2007, encounteringsecurity threats from more than 109 armed groups. Complications arefurther fuelled by the militarised youth wings of political parties and theirsister organisations who take laws in hand, politicisation of the crime andcriminalisation of politics, radicalisation of society and institutionalisationof impunity (see Chapter 10 for more discussion on it). Respect to rule oflaw is applicable only to the powerless people, not to the political partiesand their cadres. The bureaucracy, judiciary, security and all constitutionalbodies are politicised. One of the latest examples is the bargaining betweentwo major political parties to recruit the governor of the central bank ofNepal in March 2010. Another example is the failure to fill the vacantpositions in several constitutional bodies such as the Election Commissionand the Commission on the Investigation of Abuse of Authority becauseof the competition in recruiting people by certain parties in their favour.18