The Digital Vanguard: External Influences on Gen Z Political Movements and Their Impact on Nepal’s Democracy

Abstract

Gen Z, which constitutes nearly 30 percent of Nepal’s population, has emerged as a “digital vanguard” reshaping the country’s democratic moment. Unlike previous generations, this cohort’s political socialization is heavily mediated by both political globalization and ubiquitous social media networks. This paper will explore Gen Z political mobilization in Nepal and how external geopolitical forces, such as foreign policy ambitions and digital penetration, are changing domestic democratic stability. It will also examine a qualitative, multi-method approach to the systematic literature review, linked to process tracing and youth-led social movement thematic analysis, from 2017 to 2025.

The results indicate that Nepali Gen Z mirrors a “post-materialist” value system and, as such, is more inclined toward direct, informal mobilization than toward party loyalty. Studies of digital platforms, not exclusively TikTok, but also Facebook and Instagram, discover rapid mobilizations that run roughshod over domestic censorship and connect local demands to unemployment, infrastructure projects, or the global human rights agenda. Secondly, the paper highlights a systematic shift in youth movements that increasingly seek validation and leverage from global governance institutions rather than from their domestic institutions. This approximation enhances accountability by undermining clientelist political practices but also creates frictions for national sovereignty, the paper suggests. These lessons will clarify how processes of globalized connectivity influence democratic transitions in fragile, developing states confronted with structural economic and political limitations.