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

2.8 International relations and foreign policyThe Remake of a StateGlobal conflict history has shown that relationship between conflict anddevelopment mismatch is vivid. Nepalese experiences of more than sixdecades of development assistance have amply demonstrated that itcan create inequality and feeling of injustice consequently fuelling theconflict when it is not well targeted to poor and marginalised people.Nepal's development history is largely a history of failure. It failed toadequately address poverty and exclusion and widened gap between richand poor. The resources were captured by the elites. Aid conditionalitywas also an important source of increasing silent tensions. It had largelyprevented the government to focus its development operations for longtermengagement to improve quality of life (practical needs and strategicinterests) of poor and disadvantaged people.Nepal needs international support to achieve its ambitious objectives ofrestoring peace, strengthening democracy, achieving economic growthand effectively implementing the post-conflict state building frameworkpresented in this chapter. However, the role of international communityshould be to facilitate and support the initiatives of the government ofNepal.2.9 Reconstruction and developmentReconstructing of damaged infrastructures, development of the newones, redefining existing development policy, regulatory frameworks andinstitutional arrangements in line with the new structures of the federalstate are fundamentally important to achieve post-conflict stability andpeace (Chapter 7 in this book presents a detailed discussion on postconflictreconstruction and development).2.10 Political party reformPolitical parties in Nepal are the key players of state building as wellas making the state dysfunctional by blatantly politicising the statestructures, process and procedures. Restructuring the state and buildinga new Nepali state is impossible without the reformation in themselves.Therefore, post-conflict state building has also to focus on party buildingprocess, as they are the pillars of multi-party democracy and reservoir ofthe future leaders.39