Changing policies and the persistence of patron-client relations in Nepal: stakeholders' responses to changes in forest policies

This paper discusses how stakeholders reform their alliances to pursue their interests in understanding the impacts of implemented forest policies in Nepal. For the purpose of analysis, Nepal's recent forest policy history is divided into four specific time periods: prior to the 1050's, when a feudal system governed the country and forests were controlled largely by local elites; from the 1950' to mid-1970's, when system of political parties developed, replaced in by a partyless system of panchayat politics, and all the country's forests were nationalized and placed in the control of the Forest Department; from the mid-1070's to the 1980's, when a community forestry policy was introduced and implemented with the partyless panchayat system in place; and from 1990 to the present, when community forestry operates under a multi-party system of politics with several civil society organizations emerging in the country to take up some governance and management responsibilities.