'Wake-up call': British expert says Nepal unrest a warning 'for countries run by older men'

Nepal witnessed widespread protests and violence over charges of corruption by the political establishment. (AFP Photo)

Decades of stagnation and dependency on remittances set the stage for the ongoing civil unrest in Nepal which is nothing like any past movement seen in the country, Dr. David Seddon, British researcher and former professor of development studies at the University of East Anglia, who has worked in and written about Nepal for decades, has said.

In an interview with The Indian Express, Seddon further says Nepal's experience should serve as a warning to countries "dominated by older men".

"I think that it’s a lesson for almost all countries which are on the whole dominated by older men. Everything from the United States where (President Donald) Trump is in his seventies, right across the board, tends to be not exclusively men but older people, and I think they are on the whole ignoring their younger colleagues; using them very much as cadres… as tools. But they ignore this group at their peril. India and Nepal have young populations, and these people need to be integrated into a political process that is fully democratic and not authoritarian and patriarchal," he said, adding that the unrest in Nepal is a message to all leaders of political parties.

"...If you don’t integrate your young cadres and give them opportunities to express themselves in a peaceful political fashion, there is a risk that they will demonstrate and they will just take matters into their own hands," Seddon said.

As the 'Gen-Z' movement now enters an unpredictable phase with no signs of a stable leadership ready to take charge after KP Oli was forced to resign as Prime Minister, Seddon said there is immense debate on what will happen next and who will take charge in Nepal.

"My guess is that the two alternatives are — either the more conservative establishment forces will intervene to try and calm matters and take things back to normal, or else they will risk this becoming a continuing problem for the status quo. I don’t think that Nepal will fall apart. I don’t think it has been a democracy. It has been a political party system. These demonstrations were not foreseeable. Either establishment figures of a neutral kind will intervene, which I think is most likely. Or, they will fail to correct themselves," he said.

Seddon further said that Nepal has become increasingly dependent on remittances since the mid-1990s. "It has meant that a large number of young people are out of the country. The fact that so many young people have been abroad has allowed the older leaders of political parties to not take sufficient account of young people, he added.

Sodden further said that he sees the struggle to find an effective government and system of governance at the heart of the frustration among young people.

"The constitution that is now in place was rushed through in the aftermath of the earthquakes in April-May 2015. I think there are many people who are still very unhappy with what the Constitution represents. From my point of view, Nepal has never really established a fully functioning democracy. The parties have operated as vote-catching machines. It’s struggling to find an effective government and system of governance, and that’s partly why there’s such frustration among young people."