End of the Civil War in Nepal and the Political Beliefs of Maoist Leaders

Abstract

There are different ways in which a civil war can end. In Nepal, although the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) waged a civil war in 1996 to realize New Democratic Revolution, the leaders of the party eventually decided to join parliamentary democracy. What made Maoists change their policy and switch over to the opposite side during the civil war? To answer the question, this paper focusses on the political beliefs of Maoist leaders.

Most of the previous studies have primarily focused on external factors such as interventions by foreign countries for explaining the causes of the end of civil wars. However, this paper stresses on the necessity of examining how rebellious leaders interpret the world of politics based on their political belief. It then discusses that the drastic policy change of the Maoists can be party attributed to their political belief, which is unique in its ideological and tactical flexibility. Political beliefs of rebellious leaders as well as external factors can exert a great influence on their decisions and behaviors.

To examine this hypothesis, the paper applies the operational code analysis, which is a tool to assess the psychology of political leaders. This method is utilized in Section 3 to clarify the characteristics of Maoist leaders'political beliefs influencing their behaviors. Also, in Section4, a comparative analysis by using this method is conducted between the political beliefs of Maoist supreme leader, Prachanda, and that of Abimael Gusman, the ex-leader of Sendero Luminoso of Peru, to reveal the differences in their behaviors.