The partyless Panchayat system, established by King Mahendra after he toppled parliamentary democracy in I960, acquired legitimacy through the plebiscite of 1980. But such legitimacy could not be translated into performance. A decade later, the political opposition (the Nepali Congress and the United Left Front) declared war on the Panchayat, and the people responded with alacrity to its call for a multi-party system.
Spring Awakening, a posthumous publication, gives an account of critical transitional phases in recent Nepali politics — the Peoples Movement (February-April 1990), the promulgation of the new Constitution (November 1990), and the parliamentary elections (May 1991). The main focus, however, is on the Peoples Movement.
Analysing the underlying reasons behind the Movements success, authors Raeper and Hoftun discuss changes brought by the modernisation process. Advances in some service sectors — growth in literacy rate, development of commun ications and mass media, and improved transportation eastward from the Karnali river — opened up new horizons. The book, however, does not deal adequately with Nepals stagnant economy and the gap between the publics expectations and governmental performance.
The political mischief following the 1980 referendum, write the authors, was also conducive to the success of the uprising a decade later- While the Third Amendment to the then Constitution introduced some reforms, such as direct elections to the national legislature, there was the ominous emergence of conservative institutions such as the Panchayat Policy and Evaluation Committee, the Sports Council, the Bhumigat Giroha (a murky underground network), and other organisations headed or patronised by the members of the royal family.