Nepal is struggling with multiple interlocking transitions: from war to peace, from autocracy to democracy, and from an exclusionary and centralized state to a more inclusive and federal one. As elsewhere, in Nepal this postconflict transition, which is embedded in broader state transformation, has not been linear, has suffered setbacks, is likely to see future reversals, and is unlikely any time soon to be “completed.” To be sustainable, these multiple transitions will need to be underpinned by another transformation: from economic laggard to an economy offering both inclusion and growth, as well as economic governance reform.

All these transitions have been and should be largely domestically driven. Yet, at times outsiders have played a significant, often useful, but sometimes unhelpful role – as this volume has highlighted. This concluding chapter first assesses achievements so far and then examines key outstanding challenges facing major actors, both inside and outside Nepal.

Why This Book?

Asia today has wind in its sails. In one significant shift in international relations emerging from the global economic and financial crisis of 2008–10, the balance of influence is tilting toward Asia, and away from the West, based on the momentum (if not yet the weight) of Asia's economic performance and the geostrategic potential with which this rapidly increasing wealth endows the continent.

Conventional wisdom suggests that the West frittered away its moment of advantage at the conclusion of the Cold War. Meanwhile, Asia tended to its vulnerabilities, which remained, overwhelmingly, economic ones. The focus on economic growth throughout much of Asia has paid off.