{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.0210688591983556, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0035971223021582736, 'mean_word_length': 5.362745098039215, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Book Reviews : DHRUBA KUMAR, Ed., Domestic Conflict and Crisis of Governability in Nepal. Kathmandu, Nepal NRs. 525

The book is based on the assumption that the crisis of governance in Nepal is the cause and the conflicts arising thereby are the effect. The problem of political instability has compounded socio-economic instability in the country which in turn provides a challenge to the government. It is an ineffective government that is not able to provide democratic practices and institutions to people to channel their views and in the process alienates them from the political processes. Maoism, ethnic resurgence are the result of unfulfilled aspirations and voices. The first four chapters of the book deal with issues ranging from democracy to the political process and governing elite in Nepal. Dhruba Kumar in ’What Ails Democracy in Nepal?’ highlights the lack of leadership, greed and grandeur, criminalisation of politics as reasons for the unstable democracy. Lok Raj Baral in ’Clash of Values: Governance, Political Elite and Democracy in Nepal’ has projected the problems of the country’s political elite which is caught between traditional authoritarian culture and participatory political culture. Leaders and political parties in Nepal, he argues, have failed to provide effective democratic governance at the cast of sacrificing people’s aspirations. The erosion of political infrastructure further adds to the problem of governance. Krishna Hachethu considers faction-ridden political parties as the cause for ineffective governance in ’Nepali Politics: Political Parties, Political Crises and Problems of Governance’. Since the advent of multi-party democracy in 1990, the political parties in Nepal have been more interested in attaining and retaining power rather than translating people’s preferences to public policy. Factionalism existing within and between political parties makes it difficult to have a consensus