Semi-Loyal Actors and Nepal’s Democratic Breakdown of 2002

Nepal held three free and fair parliamentary elections, conducted several rounds of peaceful power transfer, and observed partly free civil and political rights after it returned to democracy in 1990. Despite the notable democratic exercises, King Gyanendra terminated Nepal’s second electoral democracy in 2002. What led to the democratic breakdown? This article finds that kings in Nepal acted as semi-loyal actors from 1990 to 2002 and then argues that the inability of weak political parties as loyal actors to put semi-loyal actors under check through political pressure motivated King Gyanendra to terminate democracy. Loyal actors became weak due to disunity, unmanaged party factionalism, governmental instability, ethnic exclusion from state structures and corruption.