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Paper short abstract

The people’s movement in Sri Lanka (2022), Bangladesh (2024), and Nepal (2025) share a pattern of public discontent. This paper analyses the issues that triggered these uprisings and tries to explain whether these movements signal enduring governance reform or episodic expressions of disgruntlement.

Paper long abstract

In recent years, the youth-led uprisings across the South Asian region have illustrated a growing crisis of democratic governance and development, economic instability, institutional failure, declining political legitimacy, and demands for government reform. The Aragalaya movement in Sri Lanka (2022), the July Revolution in Bangladesh (2024), and the Gen-Z Movement in Nepal (2025) all share a similar pattern of public discontent, especially among younger generations. Along with the dissatisfaction of the regimes, these uprisings reflected the strong demand of citizens for accountability, structural governance reform, and responsive institutional framework. In addition, these movements also highlight the uncertainty regarding the future of democracy in the South Asian region.

This paper analyses the political, economic, and social issues that triggered the recent uprisings in South Asia by using a comparative qualitative analysis. Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with youth activists, politicians, journalists, civil society actors, and academicians in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal contributed to understanding the trends and the emerging political outcomes following the uprisings. The analysis is guided by a theoretical framework that combines Bauman’s theory of late modernity and bureaucratic crisis, Tilly’s concept of contentious politics, and McAdam’s Political Process Theory. This approach will explain how these South Asian uprisings differ in their trajectories and consequences, despite their commonalities. By situating South Asian protests within broader debates on prefigurative politics and democratic renewal, the study contributes to understanding whether these movements signal enduring political transformation, sustainable governance reform or episodic expressions of disgruntlement.