The Failure of a Constitution: The Changing Role of Ethnicity in Party Politics and State Formation in Nepal

The question of why the issue of ethnic federalism stopped the signing of the constitution in Nepal is a question that every citizen was asking themselves when their hopes of finally solidifying the new democracy in Nepal was taken away in that failure. This chapter has outlined why this question is significant as well as situate the question within the context of previous literature and theories on how ethnicity operates within nation-formation and politics as well as the gaps within this literature that have motivated my thesis. After justifying my approach to answering my thesis question I outlined the organization of the chapters, what they will be about, as well as how they will help in answering my question. The next chapter that will begin to answer my thesis question will look back hundreds of years from the current debate about whether or not to have an ethnic federalism in Nepal to when Nepal first became a country. How ethnicity first operate in creation and formative years of Nepal will set the stage for how ethnicity would be treated by different political parties