Nepal

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I chose to write about Nepal because I want to understand its history on a deeper level

and contextualize an upcoming visit to Nepal later this year. I will be traveling to Kathmandu

and Pokhara along with my wife, an American who lived in Nepal with her family between 1998

and 2004. I have heard my wife Cara and her friends refer to Nepal as an “undeveloping

nation,” meaning that Nepal’s economy and standard of living are getting worse, not better. I

have spent time in underdeveloped countries such as Mexico and Afghanistan, but Nepal holds a

unique fascination for me because of its unusual challenges. This paper briefly explores what I

learned as I researched Nepal’s history and economy

“Nepal is an unsuccessful country.” This was pragmatic Nepali industrialist Prabhakar

Sumshere JB Rana’s assessment of his own country when he was interviewed in 2002 (Rana). In the intervening decade, many would continue to agree with Rana’s blunt words as the infrastructure and economy of Nepal suffered, and its government faltered. Even today, stability for Nepal remains illusive. Nepal is among the poorest nations of the world, with a population of 27 million and a gross domestic product of $18.9 billion (World Bank). Decades of internal conflict along with the global financial crisis have crippled Nepal’s workforce, but all is not lost: from renewable energy projects to consistent reductions in poverty, fortunes may be changing for this complicated and proud nation.
Many of Nepal’s economic challenges can be traced back to its unstable government. Nepal has a long history of political unrest; from 1990 to 2000, Nepal’s government changed hands nine times (BBC). In 1990, Nepal’s King Birendra agreed to a new democratic con...

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... them; for every success story, another daunting obstacle faces the government and people of Nepal. Even as new roads are being built, countless other projects are halted by corruption or mismanagement. Hopeful entrepreneurs like Birendra Bahadur Basnet still face corruption and bureaucracy as they build a better future for Nepal. Educated Nepalis continue to leave the country, even as hard-working mothers like Laxmi save money for their children to attend college. Nepal’s wealthier neighbors, India and China, present a paradox of opportunity and exploitation; hope and poverty will continue to exist side-by-side in Nepal. Ultimately, however, Nepal is home to resourceful and resilient people like Laxmi and Basnet; we can only continue to hope that their strong work ethic and spirit of creativity will guide them and their fellow Nepalis to a more successful future.

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