From (Violent) Protest to Policy: Rearticulating authority through the National Youth Policy in post-war Nepal. (18th June 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: SNELLINGER, AMANDA
• Editors: Klem, Bart; Suykens, Bert
• Is Part Of: Modern Asian studies. Volume 52:Part 3(2018)
• Page Start: 1043
• Page End: 1075
• Publication Date: 2018-06-18
• Subjects: Asia -- Civilization -- Periodicals; Asia -- History -- Periodicals; 950
• DOI: 10.1017/S0026749X16000937
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0026-749X

Abstract

Abstract: Youth frustration was a front-running issue during Nepal's decade-long civil war (1996–2006) and democratic protests (2003–2006). Young activists were mobilized as foot soldiers in these political battles, but they also capitalized on their position to establish themselves politically. They earned public recognition for their direct action; however, they have struggled to stay relevant as their parties shifted from protesting against the government to running the government. In response, youth activists leveraged the public support they earned and general concern over youth disenfranchisement to demand an active role in state restructuring. The Maoist-majority Constituent Assembly government partially heeded them by handing over the task of drafting the National Youth Policy to their youth wings and other youth activists. This policy shaped the youth-focused agenda of the newly designed Ministry of Youth and Sports and other government bureaus. This article uses the National Youth Policy as the context for an examination of how youth activists are establishing public authority beyond (violent) protest. By focusing on the micro-politics of the committee appointed to draft the Policy, I analyse the techniques its members used to assert their political values and agendas through policymaking in order to secure their positions during politically turbulent times. This article elucidates how formalized governing practices and revolutionary politics blend to reconstitute state order in the aftermath of civil war.