To help understand the political history of Nepal, which in some ways can help put the recent events into some perspective, I recommend this neat and tidy little timeline from the BBC.  And while it is much more complex than this timeline shows, it does highlight just how long these struggles have been happening and just how fragile a state Nepal truly is.  It looks very much like a cyclical, revolving, and regularly changing political system which could explain why it has taken so long to get a firm set of laws and policies in place….the direction keeps changing!