Federalism and local governance: Exploring multilingualism in local decision-making in Nepal

Under the newly proclaimed federalist constitution, Nepal’s local governments provide the most suitable public space for ordinary people with varying cultural and linguistic identities to exercise participatory local democracy. This paper seeks to empirically understand the extent to which Nepal’s local participatory decision-making mechanisms are helpful for the participation of linguistically minority communities. With the analysis of local decision-making mechanisms of three distinct and linguistically diverse municipalities, this qualitative case study research finds that local decision-making in Nepal features the characteristics of multilingualism; yet, the road is not straightforward. The design of local government structures, local officials’ linguistic capacity, and interest are some of the factors that are necessary for the development of linguistically inclusive local decision-making in Nepal.