Name: Party Systems and Foreign Policy Change in Emerging Democracies in South Asia and the Global South
Start: 2026-04-12T15:00:00+05:45
End: 2026-04-12T16:30:00+05:45
Location: Post Box 13470, 27 Jeet Jung Marg Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal 44600

Research Seminar Series
Title:
Party Systems and Foreign Policy Change in Emerging Democracies in South Asia and the Global South: A Case Study of Nepal
Speaker:
Sanju Gurung
PhD Candidate, Birkbeck, University of London
Date, Time and Venue:
12 April 2025/२९ चैत्र २०८२ (आइतबार, दिउँसो ३ बजे)
मार्टिन चौतारी सभाकक्ष, थापाथली, काठमाडौँ
LIVE:
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www.youtube.com/mchautari
Abstract:
The study of the party system and its link with foreign policy is often neglected. Although research using case studies from the Global North is expanding, it remains poorly understood in emerging democracies of the Global South, including Nepal. In this context, the presentation initially examines the evolution of the party system in Nepal before shifting its focus to the party system’s relationship with foreign policy by comparing the two political periods: the monarchical democracy of the 1990s and the post-2006 republicanism. The first part argues that the sociocultural cleavages (divisions) that the Nepali parties ambiguously displayed at the outset of the anti-Rana revolution of 1951 were followed by their evolution phase during the Panchayat (partyless autocratic monarchical) system between 1960 and 1990, before becoming a frozen (stable) party system at the beginning of the 1990s. The second part identifies and analyses the most salient features of changes and continuities in the party system between the 1990s and post-2006, and examines how the shift influenced parties’ approach to foreign policy. Three case studies are closely examined for this: the Mahakali Treaty from the former period, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) from the latter period.
About the Speaker:
Sanju Gurung (Mr) is a PhD Candidate at Birkbeck, the University of London. His research title is On a razor’s edge: the troubled neutrality behind the geopolitical dilemma facing Nepal amid the global rise of India and China. This particularly examines the relationship between Nepali domestic politics and foreign policy, with a focus on India and China. He is a Linguist and Independent Consultant who also served in the British Army for several years before beginning his academic career.