The neoliberal in Nordic garb

The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) in Nepal publicly disavows the neoliberal label, positioning itself as a centrist party advocating for a social market economy akin to Scandinavian welfare systems. The party's official platform and leadership statements consistently deny adhering to neoliberal or communist ideologies, emphasizing a commitment to public welfare and social justice.

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Despite repeated assurances of a focus on public welfare, human capabilities and social justice, the structural reforms advocated by the party are a blueprint of ‘late-stage neoliberalism’.

However, a closer examination of the RSP government's executive decisions, legislative proposals, and economic plans reveals a significant divergence between its stated progressive rhetoric and its actual policy design. The party's proposed structural reforms strongly resemble 'late-stage neoliberalism,' prioritizing supply-side deregulation, reducing state intervention, and facilitating market activity by removing transaction costs.

Key policy directions include the marketization of public assets and restructuring capital market infrastructure through divestment of state stakes in trading and depository systems to encourage private equity participation. Furthermore, the RSP government has signaled a fiscal conservatism that favors structural debt management and spending cuts over welfare programs. This approach prioritizes fiscal prudence over non-market public entitlements, a hallmark of neoliberal economic thinking.

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The government intends to open primary agricultural sectors and small businesses to global venture capital and foreign direct investment, and this aligns seamlessly with the infamous Washington Consensus.

The most pronounced neoliberal characteristic lies in the party's trade and foreign investment policies. The government plans to open primary agricultural sectors and small businesses to global venture capital and foreign direct investment, echoing the principles of the Washington Consensus. The rapid rollback of regulations, including the repeal of 15 laws that restricted business and investment, aims to restore private sector confidence through classic neoliberal supply-side interventions. The government's stance against prosecuting financial irregularities, opting for financial penalties instead of imprisonment for industrialists, further aligns with neoliberal legal theories that prioritize asset protection and market continuity over public criminal accountability.

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To further appease the private sector, the government even took a stand against prosecuting financial irregularities, stating that the state would focus on financial penalties rather than imprisoning or detaining industrialists.