Last week, Nepal became the third South Asian country in three years to see its government collapse under the weight of mass protests. On September 8, after the government banned twenty-six social media platforms, young Nepalis poured into Kathmandu’s streets, furious at what they saw as an attempt to silence criticism. The protests escalated, leaving more than seventy people dead and causing hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of damage. Analysts have rushed to dissect the political intrigue behind the resignation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and the appointment of former Chief Justice Sushila Karki as interim leader. But focusing only on the political aspects of these crises misses the bigger picture: economic despair fueled this uprising, just as it did in Bangladesh in 2024 and Sri Lanka in 2022. Across these three South Asian countries, shaky economies, undermined by corruption, unemployment, remittance dependence, and policy missteps, have become the true fault lines of political instability.
The economic roots of Nepal’s uprising—and what it means for the region – Atlantic Council
