As Nepal struggles to construct a new democratic identity under its seventh constitution in as many decades, the wider machinations and manipulations that have dominated politics ever since the country emerged from the unification of petty principalities in the mid-eighteenth century continue to cast a long shadow, SANJAY UPADHYA argues. DEMOCRACY IN TURNS critically examines the country’s past political experiments – complete with all key players and proceedings – in an effort to understand modern Nepali democracy and envision its future.