A Jurisprudential Reading Of Nepal’s Gen Z Protests: Law, Morality, And The Digital Age
- IJLLR Journal
- 13 minutes ago
- 1 min read
Vedhika Raheja, Payoja Ostwal & Shubhra Jaiswal, B.A., LL.B. (Hons), Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai
ABSTRACT
This paper examines Nepal's September 2025 Gen Z protests through the lens of jurisprudential theories, exploring how digital activism reshapes our understanding of law, legitimacy, and moral authority. The protests, which resulted in the fall of PM K.P. Sharma Oli's government following widespread demonstrations against corruption and nepotism, reveal fundamental tensions within positivist legal theory. When the government banned 26 social media platforms to suppress dissent, young Nepalis circumvented these restrictions and created alternative governance structures on platforms like Discord, demonstrating how digital communities can generate binding norms outside formal state authority. By applying theories ranging from classical positivism to contemporary frameworks including interpretivism, natural law, and critical legal studies, the paper argues that the digital age requires a pluralistic understanding of legal validity that recognizes multiple competing sources of authority. The protesters did not merely disobey law; they asserted the idea that legitimacy depends on moral coherence, procedural transparency, and popular recognition. This parallels the emergence of a "digital Volksgeist," where transnational digital communities co-create norms reflecting evolved collective consciousness. The paper concludes that Nepal's movement exemplifies how contemporary law must navigate between state authority and grassroots digital legitimacy, suggesting that the future of jurisprudence lies not in defending singular sources of law but in understanding how validity emerges through dynamic dialogue between code, conscience, and community.
