The much-hyped First National Convention of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) came to a dreary end. It was initially planned for three days but dragged on for six days, amid widespread acknowledgement of major management failures. Others defended the delay, arguing that such shortcomings were natural for the RSP's maiden venture. The participants became so bored that almost a thousand left without casting their votes. In fact, the timing and venue of the convention, especially the former, were not well planned. Chitwan was selected because it was the breeding ground of the RSP, where its president had secured landslide victories in three consecutive elections. It was also conveniently located in the centre of the country. However, the weather was so hot that people from the northern regions, who were accustomed to almost air-conditioned weather back home, could not bear the sweltering heat. Despite the delays, the convention eventually elected Rabi Lamichhane as president unopposed. His candidacy was supported by Prime Minister Balendra Shah. The RSP enjoys the unusual distinction of having been able to form a government within just four years of its establishment. However, its spectacular rise has been attributed more to the failures of the established parties than to its own achievements. The party was often criticised for suffering from a theoretical vacuum. It has now attempted to address this deficiency by declaring social democracy as its ideological goal, replacing the constitutional socialism that had featured prominently in its election manifesto. Lamichhane emphasised the need for constitutional reform to make room for a directly elected executive in order to ensure governmental stability, an issue that has troubled Nepal since the introduction of democracy in the 1950s. Pointing to the rising cost of elections, he proposed proportional representation as the solution. In addition, he suggested that the National Assembly should become a non-partisan house of experts rather than a dumping ground for leaders defeated in elections, their favourites, and political loyalists. As for the problems affecting the Provincial Assemblies, he proposed restructuring as the remedy. Social democracy has, however, become something like the Eagles' famous song New Kid in Town after being announced as the RSP's political ideology. Its roots lie in socialism, a political philosophy through which society seeks to advance along the path of development. It dates back to ancient times, from its primitive origins to its contemporary reincarnation. Its two fundamental principles are equality and the promotion of the common welfare. Equality, however, became an increasingly distant dream, especially after the Industrial Revolution, when society came to be divided into two principal classes, popularly known as the bourgeoisie and the working class. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, contemporaries of Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana in Nepal, envisioned a classless society in The Communist Manifesto in 1848, predicting that the proletariat would ultimately triumph over the bourgeoisie. This prophecy appeared to come true in the USSR, Cuba, and similar states, but these systems could not be sustained for long because of the rise of authoritarian tendencies and the absence of democratic rights. Meanwhile, in the West, particularly in Europe, socialism successfully evolved alongside democratic ideals. It was at this juncture that B. P. Koirala emerged as the torchbearer of socialism in Nepal, which he called democratic socialism. He argued that communism was practised in countries such as the USSR and China, where democratic rights were lacking. In contrast, Europe adopted democratic socialism, which successfully combined socialism with democracy. To simplify the distinction, he formulated an interesting equation: socialism emerges when democracy is added to communism, whereas communism emerges when democracy is removed from socialism. Koirala implemented this ideology by making democracy, nationalism, and socialism the three pillars of his brainchild, the Nepali Congress. After securing a landslide victory in the 1959 general election, he sought to implement socialist ideals in governance. Programmes such as land reform were introduced to redistribute land to the landless by acquiring holdings that exceeded the legally prescribed ceiling. Unfortunately, King Mahendra dismissed the popularly elected government, banned political parties, and introduced the Panchayat system. Koirala's ideals were, however, partly followed by the Nepali Congress government that came to power after the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990. It decided to allocate 70 per cent of the development budget to rural areas. However, it erred by privatising state-owned industries. The leftist forces, particularly the Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML), did not accept the ideal of democratic socialism. Instead, they preached communism, though with limited practical application. They coined the term socialist democracy, under which democracy occupied a secondary position within the communist framework. As a result, socialism became a constitutional objective through the consensus reached by the Constituent Assembly, which drafted the federal constitution under the influence of the political trinity – the Nepali Congress, the UML, and the Maoists. While socialism for the Nepali Congress has meant democracy and equality, for the UML it has come to mean 'Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali,' as its leader K. P. Oli recently redefined it during discussions on the reunification of communist forces in Nepal after their political decline. The RSP, meanwhile, has described social democracy as a five-pillared framework consisting of a competitive liberal economy, the rule of law, an accountable government, a welfare state, and an equitable and inclusive society. For now, social democracy appears to be little more than a repackaging of familiar political jargon, rather like old wine in a new bottle. Whether it proves to be more than that remains to be seen.