Nepal, Nov. 2 -- Europe is witnessing a new wave of protests over education, housing and the cost of living. In France, the Interior Ministry counted 550,000 demonstrators on October 17 and 410,000 on October 24, while the CGT union put the second figure at nearly double. Some marches ended in riots and curfews. Belgium has had a year of union-led strikes against its coalition government. These events are often described as a European uprising, but protests spread across borders far more easily than they change policy within them. Nepal, where a protest brought down a government a year ago, offers a useful comparison, because it shows both what a protest can win quickly and what it cannot secure on its own.

What Nepal's protest achieved...