A new force in Nepalese politics, driven by individual aspirations and social media, has swept away traditional parties with a horizontal approach, leaving questions about their ability to govern.

Nepal’s traditional political parties, both the Nepali Congress  and the many communist parties, came to life during the  Cold War era and were structured around feudal-style vertical  hierarchies. Today, after the March elections, they have been  swept aside by a generation that has organised horizontally,  communicating through popular rap songs and social media  and which views politics through the lens of individual  aspiration rather than collective ideology. This mobilisation  helped a rel...