Nepal at the polls

Ahead of Nepal’s elections, Dr Mara Malagodi argues that the second Constituent Assembly is likely to be more fragmented, but not necessarily better positioned to deliver constitutional reform

#NepalCounts: a post-mortem of the CA2 Elections

Mara Malagodi reviews the results of Nepal’s recent Constituent Assembly elections and considers implications of the outcome for constitution-drafting

Challenges and Opportunities of Gender Equality Litigation in Nepal

The constitutionalization of an enforceable right to equality opens novel avenues to pursue gender equality claims and presents a new set of challenges for feminist activists. This article analyzes Nepal’s constitutional litigation for alleged breaches of the right to equality with respect to gender from the re-democratization of 1990 until the promulgation of the current constitution in September 2015. It makes one central argument: Nepal’s Supreme Court has played a pivotal role in advancing the rights of Nepali women by crafting — in an incremental way — a nuanced, contextually sensitive, constitutional meaning of gender equality. In this respect, gender equality jurisprudence has been central to the judicial construction of Nepal’s constitutional identity. Nepal’s extensive experience of gender equality litigation offers key comparative lessons — especially for deeply divided societies — on the accommodation of demands for social inclusion and the construction of social identities by constitutional means

The saga of Nepal’s embattled constitutional politics continues

As the deadline for drafting Nepal’s constitution looms, it seems unlikely the Constituent Assembly will be able to deliver on time. The question of federal restructuring has been a particular roadblock, but the opaque nature of negotiations and the exclusion of minority interests have also inhibited compromise, writes Mara Malagodi

Protection of Religious Rights in India

A full and practical assessment of protection of religious rights in the UK and internationally, including evaluation of international instruments, and comparative perspectives from the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia, India, Ireland

Constitutionalism, state restructuring and identity politics in Nepal

Mara Malagodi explains how the Nepali constitutional experience illuminates the intimate relationship between law and politics in processes of constitutional change

The Locus of Sovereign Authority in Nepal

The present paper investigates in a historical perspective the articulation of the concept of internal state sovereignty in modern Nepal’s constitutional domain by juxtaposing an analysis of the country’s various constitutional forms with a reading of the physical architectural structures hosting the main central state institutions (the capitol) in Kathmandu. The emphasis on the internal notion of state sovereignty with a focus on the formation of the modern nation-state seeks to illuminate the tensions underlying the transformation of the relationship between the state and the people in Nepal and the repeated failure to respond adequately to democratic aspirations and demands for inclusion

Ivor Jennings's Constitutional Legacy beyond the Occidental-Oriental Divide

Sir W. Ivor Jennings (1903–1965) was one of Britain's most prominent constitutional law scholars of the twentieth century. He is mostly famed for his work in the 1930s on English Public Law. In 1941, Jennings, however, moved to Sri Lanka, progressively becoming involved in both an academic and professional capacity with constitutional processes across the decolonizing world in the early stages of the Cold War. This article provides an alternative account of Jennings's constitutional legacy to those of existing scholars by combining orthodox accounts of the ‘Occidental Jennings’ with an analysis of the neglected ‘Oriental’ experiences of this influential intellectual. It examines the ambiguous relationship between constitutionalism and democracy in Jennings's constitutional work overseas, and the impact of his postcolonial work on his views on constitutionalism

The Rejection of Constitutional Incrementalism in Nepal’s Federalisation

The relationship between federalism and identity was the single most contentious issue in the drafting of Nepal’s 2015 Constitution, and remains an embattled feature of the country’s post -conflict constitutional settlement. This article explains why ‘constitutional incrementalism’ – the innovative constitution-making strategy for deeply divided societies theorised by Hanna Lerner – was ultimately (and wisely) rejected in Nepal’s federalisation process. Historically a unitary state since its creation in the late eighteenth century, Nepal committed itself to federal restructuring in 2007, but profound disagreements endured over the set of institutional choices concerning the features of Nepal’s federal arrangements throughout the country’s latest constitution-making process (2008- 5). Constitutional incrementalism with its emphasis on deferral, ambiguity and contradiction was thought of in some quarters as a pragmatic and instrumental way out of Nepal’s political impasse. In the end, the 2015 Const itution expressly named the Provinces (even if by just using numbers) and demarcated their boundaries already at the time of its promulgation. Any changes to this framework can only take place now by way of constitutional amendment. This article explains why the incrementalist approach was rejected in Nepal’s federalisation process, and reflects on the conditions under which constitutional incrementalism may succeed in societies that present profound disagreements over the collective identity of the polity

Study of materials and techniques in painted ceiling panels from a palace in Cremona (Italy, 15th century)

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