Economic development, freedom and ability to pursue one’s interests are important features of individualism. Although Nepal is considered one of the most liberalized countries in South Asia, Nepali society is highly collectivist in nature. A significant proportion of individuals in Nepal do not have confidence to accept personal responsibility for their successes and failures. They subordinate their interests and actions to the group’s interests and actions. They try to get rid of unnecessary challenges and wish to live placidly. Nepali society is in dire need of transformation from a collective mode of thinking to an individualistic one.
Until now, Nepali politicians have exploited Nepali individuals’ collective priorities. Collectivism in Nepal has helped change the political regime, but has not helped Nepal gain a strong stance in diplomatic affairs and socio-economic matters.[break]
In whatever way possible, Nepali politicians/parties want to control the government. Politicians prioritize power politics over national economy, society, and livelihood of people. Individuals have not been able to feel the presence of the state, bad politics has made the state invisible in Nepal. I argue that it is Nepali individuals’ prioritizing collectivism that is pushing country backwards in socio-economic terms.
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Until now, democracy, economic growth and development have been rhetorically used by state and politicians, even though these are also the priorities of Nepali people. Election is considered to be an important component of democracy. In every election, politicians exploit community leaders to garner votes. Community leaders have much control over individuals in their group or community. Thus, it is the voice of community leaders, rather than that of individuals, that reaches the state through elections. As a result, individuals suffer. In the long term, rising dissatisfaction among individuals creates a new group that rises against the state. But the cycle continues, as few individuals benefit from a collectivist society.
It will be useless to form federal states based on collectivism, whether ethnic or otherwise, unless there is sufficient space for individuals to thrive. Individuals are highly mobile. They are always in search of better opportunities. Often this leads to migration, within state or outside. A group of individuals cannot be expected to be confined to a certain territory. Thus, individuals should also be prioritized in the state restructuring process.
Individualism also helps in regulating the democratic system. Individuals are more aware of political, social and economic developments in the country because it affects their individual initiatives. Individual mandate reaches the state, though not sufficiently, through election, as they decide on candidates based on their intelligence. This will help in guiding the democracy and politics of the country.
In terms of economic growth and development, individualism will produce a way out for the present poor growth rate. In an individualistic system, people are more competitive, creative and innovative. Occupations are also diversified, because individuals have varied interests, and they come up with innovative ideas. Innovation and diversification of occupations will help Nepal thrive in world economics. However, Nepali society imposes a lot of rules for common benefits, which consequently hampers the individual’s creativity, productivity and competitiveness to compete in world economy.
Individuals are competitive only when they have better access to education and health. Individuals in return contribute to state and society in terms of higher economic output, employment, taxes, and so on. However, our society prefers that schools teach things that are acceptable in society. Parents and society impose rules about what to do, what not to do, and even what to think and not think. Children in Nepal do not learn how to think. This hampers their competitiveness and creativity potentials. That is the reason why the literacy rate of Nepal has improved but individualism and socio-economic issues have not.
Furthermore, certificate-oriented education of most of individuals restricts innovation and creativity. As a result, the state has to create employment opportunities for those individuals again. As Nepal’s market cannot absorb them all, many people migrate abroad. More problematic is that the educated youth residing within the country neither want to work in agricultural field, nor have sufficient skills to find a job or to create their own venture.
Politicians leverage Nepalis’ priority of collectivism to exploit such educated individuals and thus maintain their legitimacy over the state. They use unemployed or underemployed individuals within the country in party affiliated youth associations and student associations. Furthermore, government offices have been overstaffed to increase party influence over society. With such hiring, efficiency and technological advancement in bureaucracy and other government offices have taken a downturn.
Similarly, employed youth are bound to collective groups of labor unions, where again, individuals suffer. For example, many individual workers were not happy to lose their jobs at Surya Nepal garment factory, but they had to suffer as the factory shut down because of politically affiliated unions. Thus, individuals have been suffering from collectivism and politicians.
In recent years, anti-Indian sentiments have been growing rapidly in Nepal. The reason for the rising external influence in Nepal is the state’s inability to promote individualism. For their personal benefit, politicians used Nepali individuals by turning them into a mass of vulnerable groups rather than competitive individuals. Another reason for the rise of external influence is that the state has turned weaker with rising inequalities among individuals of Nepal and neighboring countries. Now, a state has appeared where the individuals are not competitive and politicians not intelligent enough to tackle the interests of foreign states. Individualism will produce a lot of quality individuals able to deal with foreign interests in Nepal, enabling Nepal to benefit economically from diplomatic relations.
These scenarios clearly explain that Nepali peoples’ priority of collectivism has benefited politicians and foreign sectors more, states have failed to perform well in terms of economics and development. Even a highly collectivist country like China has recognized and supported individualism in order to thrive economically. Isn’t this the time to prioritize individual competitiveness in Nepal over common collectivist paradigm to progress economically in this globalized world?
The author is a Masters level student of Development Studies at Kathmandu University
khanal.kamal@hotmail.com
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