Towards Local Democracy In Nepal Damodar Adhikari by Damodar Adhikari 9783934525474, 3934525474 instant download after payment.

This is a qualitative study carried out in the context of local governance in Nepal. It focuses on district planning and management from the perspective of democratic participation of citizens while power and participation provide the theoretical framework.

Nepalwas under an authoritarian regime for centuries. Since the 1990s, the country has been moving towards democracy, decentralisation and participatory governance.Decentralisation as a strategy changes structures and power relations between levels of government and among the key stakeholders. In this policy environment, the study explores and analyses dimensions of power focusing on how power is generated, shared and exercised in dealing with public affairs, and how these power relations and related dimensions affect local planning and other democratic practices.

The study explores and analyses a number of critical issues within its broader theoretical framework. It finds that the weak capacity of local government, the centralised mindset of bureaucrats and politicians, the weak internal democracy of political parties, limited fiscal decentralisation, the growing conflict and the absence of elective representatives in local governments are the foremost challenges in the path of effective local democracy and local governance. It also finds that decentralisation in Nepal is immature and prone to recentralisation.