The Foreign Service Journal, April 2007

sents a host of new challenges for us.” TechnoFile is produced by and for ST personnel, stateside and abroad, and contains news, articles on person- al and professional accomplishments and project summaries, as well as technical articles. — Susan Maitra, Senior Editor The “New Nepal”: Democracy-Building in Action The process of democracy- building, with all its challenges and messiness, is on display in Nepal, the tiny but strategic nation that changed from an absolute to constitutional monarchy in 1990. It has since suf- fered from frequent and confronta- tional government changes, a decade- long Maoist insurgency that claimed more than 13,000 lives, the suspension of parliament and a one-year period of “emergency rule” by King Gyanendra. The way was paved for ending the insurgency and restoring the political process in April 2006 when the seven main political parties and the Maoist rebels, who control most of rural Nepal, joined to demand an end to Gyanendra’s dictatorial rule. Within a month the king was forced to hand power back to the parliament, and the parties and Maoists proceeded to negotiate plans for new elections to a constituent assembly, to be held in June, that will write a new constitu- tion. They also hammered out agreements on power sharing in the interim government and weapons decommissioning. By February, an interim legislature had been formed and an interim constitution promul- gated. Now attention is focused on the next steps, constituent assembly elec- tions and drafting of the new constitu- tion. To help on the ground, a one- year U.N. mission in Nepal is now on the scene ( www.un.org.np/unmin/ srsg.php ). U.N. election advisers have been there for some time, and are monitoring the registration and storage of the insurgents’ weapons. The Maoist commitment to partic- ipate in the process is a historic devel- opment, but some observers worry that political leaders will fail to cast the net broadly enough. “So far, the concentration has been on building elite consensus at the expense of intense political debate and extensive public consultation,” the International Crisis Group, an NGO working on five continents to prevent and resolve deadly conflict, states in its Feb. 26 report ( www.crisisgroup.org/hom e/index.cfm?id=4673&l=1 ). The group warns that unless Nepali politi- cal leaders make the process more inclusive they risk a return to violent conflict, as foreshadowed in the recent unrest among residents of the Tarai plains. “Nepal’s constitution-making pro- cess has two tough targets to meet,” says Rhoderick Chalmers, deputy director of the Crisis Group’s South Asia Project. “It must conclusively end the conflict and also shape more representative and responsive state structures. Balancing these concerns is far from straightforward, but broader public participation can only help.” For news and updates on Nepal, see BBC Online at ( http://news.bbc . co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6435901. stm ). The Center for Strategic and International Studies’ South AsiaMon- itor provides regular analysis ( www. csis.org/media/csis/pubs/sam95. pdf ), and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace offers views fromNepal in its monthly South Asian Perspectives webzine ( www.carnegie endowment.org/newsletters/SAP /sap_february07.htm#nepal ). For background, the Library of Congress country study on Nepal is informative ( http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ frd/cs/nptoc.html ). — Susan Maitra, Senior Editor A P R I L 2 0 0 7 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 13 C Y B E R N O T E S