CIVIL SOCIETY IN NEPAL

Dev Raj Dahal, TU

It was the "Third Wave" of democracy of the nineteen-eighties that sparked off a global associational revolution of minorities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil societies, women, professional organizations, environmentalists, etc causing an authority crisis for the state and , consequently, changing the loyalty patterns of citizens. These associations are at times seen to be cooperating and at others competing with the state- in both the cases influencing its policies. This revolution occurred as a response of the weakening of the states' credibility, as it was no longer identified with the sole provider of public and common goods. Accordingly, the crucial links between micro and macro processes, between citizens and public affairs and between local realities and universal aspirations assumed deeper levels of interdependence.

With decay in the influence of ideological mass parties to mobilize people and the spread of values of consumerism and rugged individualism, many states were divested of the ability to maintain a desirable balance among those social values. Governments were instead taking the side of capital against labor, the implication of which has been profound. The public sphere that was getting a thrashing from a retreat of the state was again being beaten up by this promotion of private interest by the state itself-the state, which is supposed to be the supreme protector of public interest. The importance of the civil society thus became clear resulting in the sprouting of organizations all over the world claming their own place in the vast public sphere that was being left almost empty. " Just as economic globalization is shifting power away from the state towards the private sector, the globalization of human rights movement is shifting power away from the state towards civil society and individuals" (FES-SPIA, 1998:27). Civil society networks espousing the indivisibility, inalienability and universality of rights continue to challenge state-centered nationalism and predatory regimes in favor of a democratic alliance within and across national borders.

The Westphalian system of absolute state sovereignty, characterized by its territoriality, monopoly over institutions, law and power, material and cultural resources, rationalized bureaucratic authority and public sector enterprises, appeared to be shifting to 'sovereignty of people'. The legislature and the courts thus became the ultimate sources of authority. Consequently, constitutional democracy, the rule of law to ensure equal justice for all and human rights assumed topmost weight in human life in Nepal too. National human rights movements seek to bring their legal and political systems into conformity with the principles underlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948. Though not a treaty, its vision seeks to establish common standard of achievement for all peoples and nations. Its principles were incorporated in the Helsinki Accords 1975, which brought human rights abuses in the former Soviet Union in closer scrutiny. The human rights and popular sovereignty established a belief that power must be rooted in the people and holders of power submit themselves to popular will and judgment.

By adhering to human rights treaties the states have placed self-imposed limits on their sovereignty and individuality. Constitutional laws are also being pulled towards cross-border consistency in transactions, such as travel, trade, information and communications and populations movements marking a diminution of geography, if not an end of it. The universaliztion of rights postulated the universalistic criterion for participation and assimilation of people into a global citizenship. The de-traditionalizing effects of modernity further made it impossible to go back to the good old days of village livelihood for the solution of current economic problems of deficit spending, stagnation and high unemployment and , consequently, construct a new identity based on moral foundation, social justice and egalitarian politics. The free play of supply and demand presupposes a free play of the market system in which frontiers hardly stand in the way. Each service that can be digitized and transmitted can be produced and bought everywhere in the world. In this context, only those countries are placed at extreme vantagepoints that have achieved coherence between national needs and universal aspirations.

The authority of states is suddenly in decline because citizens' rising unmet demands occasioned a falling political support for the status quo. As the state's coercive power to tax, set rules and allocate resources to mange its affairs tapered off, the new governance strategy required a new social partnership with non-state actors. This became necessary both for setting the criteria of public policy and means to achieve the shared benefits at inter-institutional, interpersonal and inter-generational level. Non-state actors are referred to here as the third sector, civil society, non-profit, voluntary and self-help organizations, Non-Governmental Organizational (NGOs), formal and informal associations of people and their social movements working together as agents of change. The greater the existence of social virtues and civic trust, the better the scope for cooperation among the state and non-state actors. A society with enough social capital in stock to cooperate with others easily mediates individual parochial interests and, hopefully, gives preference to the public and common good. The contribution of social capital to facilitate collective action for social and economic develo0pment is enormous. "The theory of social capital presumes that, generally speaking, the more we connect with other people, the more we trust them, and vice versa" (Putnam, 1995:665). The legal apparatuses "serving as a substitute for trust, entails what economists call "transaction costs". Widespread distrust in a society imposes a kind of tax on all form of economic activity, a tx that high-trust societies do not have to pay" (Fukuyama, 1995:28).

Following the exposure of Nepalese people into modernity and democracy, the pre-rational social structures of the nation, such as family, religion, community, cultural association, caste and class hierarchies founded on "natural will", have marked a paradigm shift towards modern structures of "rational will", such as the doctrine of rational natural law, social contract, citizenship, constitutional order, solidarity and nationhood. Rational will binds the political power with law and applies equally to all human beings as citizens of a state. It also establishes the autonomy of citizens and provides them private free choice to negotiate a social contract they need. Nepalese societies are highly diverse in terms of human development, socially heterogeneous and vertically segmented into social and cultural divisions. The effects of this historically evolved social asymmetry in the relationship among citizens of different castes, classes and genders, however, has been to postpone the benefits of social modernization from being enjoyed by the underclass. Often, the dis-equilibrium between the centralized decision-making process and fragmented societies has led to major inequities in the distribution of resources, which has in turn led to growing societal discontent. The social neglect of Dalits, subordination of women and marginalization of indigenous people continue to clog the democratization process. The rights and duties of citizens granted by the Constitution are supposed to protect their sphere of action and strengthen actionable demand. And enacted laws are supposed to be linked with penal norms to surmount the culture of impunity in the country. But this is yet to happen.

All these factors have compounded the weaknesses of the political society in Nepal and kept it from translating the demand for citizenship equality into a politically potent force. Poor performance of governance has limited the inclusion of the variety of social groups into an effective political community. For example, a number of indigenous communities, such as Kusundas, Rautes, Chepangs, etc are not a member of the political community. But still, many civil agencies founded on "rational will", such as the media, students unions, human rights organizations, law society, trade unions, women's associations, professional establishments, citizens groups, consumer associations, tec are trying to deconstruct the primordial ties for the new connective tissue of human rights, self-determination and solidarity as well as seeking the transformation of the public and private spheres for a negotiated between the society and the state.

Civil association is the "condition of existence of a cosmopolitan state; this is a state conceived of not as a community but as people living in "intelligent relationship" with one another" (Giddens, 1998:3). These agencies increasingly focus on the aspirations of the groups of a society in pushing the idea of "natural rights" which protect the human beings' private autonomy and freedom of choice. Their central motive is to evoke the condition of eternal vigilance on which freedom and autonomy have been founded and given to human beings. Is this transition towards "rational will" conducive to the creation of social capital for development and democratic consolidation? By implication, does it help strengthen the social base of politics? As far as civil societies are concerned are concerned, they are grounded in the public space, their apostle is the public and they justify their entire activities in the name of the public. The legitimacy of constitutional state itself is embedded in the virtuous public sphere of civil societies facilitating an organized representation of diverse social interests in development and governance.

In Nepal, where both the political society and economic society have a common utilitarian motive maximizing power and wealth, the non-profit sectors-a world of the poor and powerless-are always begin forsaken by concrete policy manifestation and by the democratization process paradoxical, many of these associations, far from becoming an autonomous sphere, have become a part of the political society-political parties, institutions of elections, special interest groups and the state and consequently, failed to perform civic functions. They have hardly become helpful in civic renewal and in shaping the political choice of individual citizens. The state has promulgated the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990, Social Welfare Act 1992,Ninth Plan Document 1997-2000 and Local Self-Governance Act 1998, its Regulation 1999 and a myriad of other rules and regulations, which define the actions of different social actors including civil society. The endorsement of a number of human rights instruments obviously connects to limits on the state's internal sovereignty and enhances the universal rights of Nepali citizens. But, within those definitions, the behaviors of its members are freely chosen reflecting their individual and collective interests.

The first section of this study deals with the bewilderingly diverse concepts of civil society rooted into different philosophical traditions. The second section sketches the unique historical legacy of civil society and civic activities in Nepal existing side by side with state institutions. The third section defines the contemporary policy framework for the operation of the civil society and the voluntary sector including non-governmental organizations. The fourth section elaborates the complexity of the modern civil society operating in Nepal. The fifth and sixth sections explain the contemporary civil society discourse on democratization and development; and finally, the last section draws a brief conclusion.

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