Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev (1945-2001), king of Nepal (1972-2001). Born in Kathmandu, Birendra was educated in India and England before taking degrees from the University of Tokyo in Japan and Harvard University in the United States. He ascended to the throne as king of Nepal in 1972, following the death of his father, and was formally crowned in 1975. Birendra inherited a political system that banned the formation of political parties and allowed for the autocratic rule of the king through a nonparty system of councils, or panchayats.

In 1980, in the face of political demonstrations and general unrest, Birendra called for a referendum to allow the people to choose between the existing panchayat system and a multiparty system. The referendum returned a slight majority for maintaining the panchayat system with certain modifications. Birendra allowed a number of democratizing reforms, such as the direct popular election of the Rashtriya (National) Panchayat. In 1990 a coalition......

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Title: Late King Birendra
Approximate Word Count: 274
Approximate Pages: 2 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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