Description
This paper examines the emergence and evolvement of the Communist party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M) as a case of clandestine insurgency. What makes the CPN-M and its campaign of ‘People’s War’ (1996-2006) such an interesting case, is the way the CPN-M generated a broader Maoist movement, taking control over 70 percent of Nepal’s countryside within a decade. Drawing on life history interviews with people who participated in the movement, we examine how the CPN-M evolves from a clandestine formation to take on social movement characteristics. How do forms of mobilisation and membership evolve in the course of war? How do people who contributed to the movement understand this unfolding? In what ways do the origins of the CPN-M as a clandestine political party continue to matter for its war-time practices of mobilisation? In pursuing these questions, we advance a research agenda that aims to understand the unfolding of civil wars by examining the distinct origins of armed groups as organisations and the transformation of these origins over time (Shesterinina and Livesey, 2022). In doing so, we offer new insights into the literature on cladestinity and armed groups (Lewis, 2020), moving beyond origins into questions about transformation and unfolding.
