Transnational resources and LGBTI+ activism in Nepal

This thesis presents an analysis of the differential power relationships experienced by three LGBTI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and others) non-government organisations (NGOs) in Nepal. It centres on the main argument that resources, networks and collective organisational identities interact in a cyclical manner whereby an organisation’s access to one reinforces its access to and utilisation of the others. However, due to the nature of resources and networks and their relationships with organisational identities, NGOs with different organisational identities have hierarchical access to resources and networks whereby some organisations are better able to utilise a cyclical effect than others. These arguments are drawn from qualitative interviews with a total of 71 participants including activists, their allies and donors, as well as from participant observations and document analysis. The study provides a distinctive analytical framework for the study of social movements in the Global South by using a multi-institutional politics approach to include within analysis multiple sources of power, combining this with an emerging regional approach.