against government targets from January 15 th to 28 th and a nationwide bandh or shut down of educational institutions, vehicle mobility, shops, etc from February 13 th to 14 th . The present establishment perceives that big parties are disengaged from the people, caught in internal leadership rivalry and cannot pose any serious challenge to the regime. The implication of several top level leaders in corruption cases by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority(CIAA), the co-optation of aspiring individual politicians into the structure of the government, and calls for meetings by the Prime Minister with the leaders of other parties regarding the security situation, elections and power sharing have been used by the government to neutralize a fractious opposition. The government has also asked human rights activists to facilitate negotiation with the Maoists and is reported to have set up teams for negotiations. If on the one hand, Home Minister D. B. Thapa says that"the government will consider a"give and take" measure if the Maoists choose peaceful ways" on the other hand the government has constituted a"United Special Task Force" consisting of army and police personnel to crush the Maoist "terrorism". The task force comprises 20,000 security personnel, taken equally from the military and police forces, and fully equipped with recently purchased weapons from Belgium and the United States. The US has provided$17 million in military equipment and is sending American soldiers to train the Nepalese army. Recent Developments The high intensity conflict started in Nepal due to the failure of the third round of peace talks in November 2001 resulting in the declaration of a state of emergency in the country and the suspension of fundamental rights of people. There is mass migration of poor youths from the far-west and mid­hills of Nepal to India and Nepalese urban towns in order to escape forced conscription by the Maoists while landlords, government officials, businessmen and rich people are migrating to escape the Maoist threat leaving behind old people, children, the disabled and women. Fear of implication by security forces has added another dimension to this. The National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) has asked the government to declare a cease-fire to create an atmosphere for talks, bring the Maoists to the negotiation table, halt killing of people in"fake encounters," follow minimum norms of human rights and stop the use of excessive force to suppress the Maoists. It has demanded an independent probe into mass killings reported during security operations, penalties for the wrong doers and compensation for the victims. Accordingly, it has sent a letter to the Maoist leader, Prachanda, urging him to stop all sorts of killings including unarmed security personnel and personnel on leave, kidnapping and torture of captive persons, and to follow the principles mentioned in Article 3 of the Geneva Convention and observe the minimum norms of international human rights practices. Recently, on the governance front, with the cooperation of donor agencies, the government has initiated some reforms. For example, in the restructuring of the annual budget it has defined the priority of poverty alleviation as the foremost goal and improvement of security as the second most important goal of the government. This has led to the dropping of many low priority projects. Anti-corruption agencies like the CIAA have been empowered to take action against the corrupt and the civil code has been amended to empower women. Causes of Conflict Protracted democratic transition Nepal faces governmental instability. It has had 12 prime ministers within 12 years of multiparty rule. After the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990, political consciousness and institutional complexity have increased and many progressive laws have been passed. But, due to the government's inability to manage people's representa­tion and political competition, the nation could not steer itself in the right direction and deliver the requisite public goods. The distribution of power and checks among the executive, legislature and judiciary remained highly unstable. In the transition phase, the multi-party regime persisted without improving its quality and maintaining its equilibrium between the four vectors of governance, i.e. the state, the market, civil society and international regime. Law and order became especially weak as each government withdrew many criminal cases. Deficiency of state authority The post-1991 regime subordinated the state power to its executive arm. The government itself found its powers rooted in the power of a particular political party leader or a coalition of minor parties making legislature and the public weak. In many cases, particular politicians held the reins of the executive. At the same time, the state also faced a legitimacy crisis due to neo-liberal economic policies that sought the roll back of the state, anti-state discourse of human rights and civil society groups, extra-constitutional challenges posed by the Maoists and the donor regime that pushed the agenda of market-maximalism and state minimalism. The dissolved Lower House of Parliament furthermore did not represent adequately the ethnic minorities and the Dalits. The lack of consensus among the political parties to follow the constitution itself and the disharmonious socialization of party cadres and voters by political leaders have created an - 3-