Nepal, April 24 -- The People's Movement in 2006 decisively broke the royal family's hold on power. Gyanendra stepped down, and the Comprehensive Peace Accord formally ended the decade-long conflict. This moment was expected to open the door to a new political era. In practice, however, a small group of leaders came to dominate the system. Sher Bahadur Deuba, K.P. Sharma Oli, and Pushpa Kamal Dahal largely alternated power among themselves.

These leaders represented different ideological traditions. The Nepali Congress promoted liberal democracy, while the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) followed a Marxist-Leninist framework, and Dahal's party championed hardline communism. Yet ideology rarely shaped political behavio...