Confused, If my memory does not fail me, someone, and quite aptly so, in one of the posts recently, called you 'one-dimentional' - yes, you really are. You are stubborn as a mule. You never give in to reasons. You are all over the place yet you don't make an iota of sense half the time. So, normally, I don't even bother replying to your posts - not that it would matter to you, I hasten to add - but, you come across a bit mellowed on this one, so I thought I would put my views this one time. You keep harping on the need for democracy in Nepal despite it being as clear as day that the system has failed us spectacularly over the last fourteen years. You need to be here in Nepal to know what I am talking about. The country, well, to put it mildly, is in tatters. Yes, I did, like many others, have very high hopes when democracy was instituted in 1990, but contrary to our expectations, things got from bad to worse. The situation now is so bad, it's beyond words. Come to think of it - it has been a case of jumping from the pan right into the fire. Anyways, back to the topic at hand: I think for a democracy to function smoothly, certain prerequisites have to be met. Two pre-conditions that immediately spring to my mind now are: 1. The majority of the population has to be educated. 2. There has to be a large middle class Educated people are generally well informed; know what is right and what is wrong; can't be easily deceived, know what thier rights are, make better decisions etc. So, the poliliticians have to be on their toes all the time. In sharp contrast, uneducated people are gullible, ignorant, easily deceived, easily manipulated, can't make sound judgements, they don't have a clue what thier rights and responsibilities are..yada yada yada.... All you have to say is jump and they go 'how high?' In a society like this might is right, politicians with criminal backgrounds will continue to be elected, votes can be bought and sold, people in power can get away with murder/violation of law etc etc. Another important prerequisite for a democracy is: the society has to be relatively well off. People must have jobs; they must have a decent income to live a fairly comfortable life. They have to be able to support thier families; educate thier children; be financialy secure; not worry about where thier next meal is going to come from etc. Democracy in a society like this can thrive. In a society where the vast majority of the people are poor; do not have food to eat, place to live, unable to educate thier children, unable to find employment, it will give rise to lawlessness. Moral/social/family values will erode; social cohesion will fall apart. People may take up arms, revolt againt a section of the society. Nepal is deficient in both the qualities, no wonder, democracy has been a monumental failure in Nepal. The last fourteen years have been the most painful period the country and its people have ever experienced in the history of modern Nepal. The country, mired in a bloody civil war, is teetering on the brink of collapse, and our very own sovereingty is at stake. To put this whole argument into perspective, lets look at the experiences of some of the countries that have been a truly phenomenal success stories. Singapore, which, some contend is still undemocratic, under Lee Kwan Yew's autocratic rule made an unprecedented leap forward; transforming itself into a leading finacial and commercial centre with one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. Singapore still continues to be a highly regulated society where political dissent is systematically supressed. *I'm in a rush so I will be very brief* The countries that have prospered exponentially in the last 25/30 years, namely; Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, China all have one thing in common, and that is: the lack of democracy. People in these countries have a high degree of personal and economic freedom but very limited political freedom, if at all. Taiwan and South Korea, however, have full democracy now. So in answer to your question: Nepal will be ready for democracy when we have attained the aforementioned goals.