In major South Asian countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, governments have collapsed one after another over the past three years. It is the result of young generations, angered by corruption in the established political class and economic inequality, pouring into the streets.
Major outlets including AP on the 18th called this phenomenon, reminiscent of the Arab Spring that swept the Middle East and North Africa in the early 2010s, "The Asian Spring." However, this wave of protests unfolded differently from the past Arab Spring, with each country's Generation Z (Gen Z, born from the mid-1990s to the early 2010s) taking the lead. Beyond a simple change of government, observers say it has tested the possibility of rebuilding democratic systems and even shaken the geopolitical landscape of South Asia, which has been divided between India and China.
In Nepal, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli resigned on the 9th. In a climate of growing discontent over corruption and nepotism, the government's ban on major social media platforms became the spark. As images of politicians' children enjoying lavish lifestyles spread on social media, young people's sense of deprivation reached a peak.
About 56% of Nepal's population is under 30. They have used social media as a livelihood tool to communicate with relatives abroad and receive remittances. The government's social media blockade was tantamount to cutting Gen Z's lifeline. Enraged protesters set fire to the Parliament, the presidential residence, and Ministers' homes. In the process, more than dozens (at least 34 to 72) died. In the end, Oli withdrew the social media ban and stepped down.
The latest protests in Nepal are a prime example of how Gen Z is toppling an old political order. It began with a graduation video uploaded to YouTube six months ago. In the video, a 16-year-old boy, Aishukar Ros, shouted, instead of a graduation speech, "Young people, rise up. We are the torch of change," castigating the corruption and incompetence of the older generation. The speech spread rapidly on social media and galvanized young Nepalis.
The full-fledged protests were organized by Gen Z leaders such as Sudan Gurung, head of the youth NGO Hami Nepal. They used Instagram and Discord, a chat platform mostly used by gamers, to organize demonstrations and draw participation across Nepal.
They strictly eschewed violent protests. As a principle, they specified, "Wear school uniforms and carry books as a symbol of nonviolent resistance." The protesters' goal did not stop at ousting a single prime minister. Even after the prime minister resigned on the 9th and the social media ban was withdrawn, the protests continued. In Nepal's political circles, there were even proposals to form a broad consensus government that includes Gen Z voices.
Before Nepal, in 2022 Sri Lanka also saw a youth-led protest movement topple the government. When President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his family plunged the country into default through corruption and misrule, Sri Lankans occupied the presidential residence. Rajapaksa soon fled abroad. The young activists who led the protests set up a tent encampment in front of the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo and continued their sit-in. Later, in the 2024 election, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who enjoyed widespread popular support, was elected president, taking a major step toward restructuring the system.
In Bangladesh, student protests last July ended Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's 15-year rule. Discontent with a quota system that favored certain groups over merit in civil service hiring grew into large-scale anti-government protests. In particular, when hundreds died amid police crackdowns during the protests, even ordinary citizens, beyond the youth, joined in anger. Hasina eventually resigned and went into exile in India. After that, a transitional government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took office, giving Bangladesh a foothold for reform.
The protests that erupted in the three countries resemble the Arab Spring of the 2010s in many ways. Spreading public sentiment via social media, youth-led resistance, and anger at a corrupt establishment are common threads. Joydeep Das Gupta, head of a media technology institute, said in a report, "Thanks to the democratization of the internet, messages spread without geographic barriers and the movement gained momentum."
However, while the Arab Spring focused on the political slogan of toppling dictators, the Asian Spring has put forward more concrete and practical demands to address economic inequality and social injustices. Meenakshi Ganguly, Asia deputy director at Human Rights Watch, told Al Jazeera, "Young people in South Asia are finding no ties with the established political class," noting that "the gap between their lives and the lives of politicians and their children fueled anger."
Unlike the Arab Spring, which led to civil wars and greater turmoil in places like Libya and Syria, Asian countries have not yet lost their reformist bent. Experts said this is because protesters did not stop at ousting particular leaders but pursued institutional changes such as reforming the judiciary and election commissions and creating independent watchdogs. Bloomberg, citing experts, emphasized that "anger alone is insufficient" and that "to achieve lasting political change, anger must be converted into reform."
The changes of government brought about by South Asia's Gen Z are expected to have significant repercussions not only for domestic politics but also for the Asian landscape centered on China and India. The recently toppled government in Nepal and the one replaced last year in Bangladesh were emblematic pro-China administrations. The two countries served as key partners in China's modern Silk Road strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative. Nepal formally signed a Belt and Road cooperation framework late last year and had discussed 10 priority projects with China. Pokhara International Airport, the gateway to Mount Everest, was built with a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China. Bangladesh, too, has built eight large projects, including railways and a thermal power plant, with Chinese financing since 2016. Geopolitically, both countries served as strategic footholds for China to check India.
But as citizens angered by corruption and inequality brought down pro-China governments, the likelihood has grown of reviewing already signed Belt and Road projects and renegotiating loan terms. In Nepal, controversies are already swirling over alleged corruption and flight-path setting errors at Pokhara airport, built with 1.02 billion yuan (about 199 billion won) in Chinese funds. In Bangladesh, as the Chinese "debt trap" issue becomes a public debate, revising loan conditions has risen to the official national agenda.
From China's perspective, with political uncertainty growing in Nepal and Bangladesh, it will be difficult to execute large-scale investments as before. The South Asian protests are anti-corruption, anti-establishment movements led by young people. It has become harder for China to exert influence through "backroom deals" with elite leadership circles as in the past. Clumsy interference could backfire by stoking anti-China sentiment.
Experts predicted that such rapid political shifts could open new opportunities for India, China's longtime rival, and the United States. India has traditionally cast itself as South Asia's leader, but in recent years its regional influence has waned under China's aggressive push. Seizing on the current situation, India has moved to deepen power, port, and logistics connectivity with Nepal and Bangladesh to pull them into its sphere of influence. The United States could also step in by strengthening diplomatic and economic support for these countries to counter China's expansion. Since 2017, the United States has provided $500 million (about 700 billion won) in free power aid to Nepal. Academia has assessed that "Bangladesh leaned on the Belt and Road and increased its dependence on China for infrastructure, but after the change of government, demands are growing for diversified external financing and greater transparency in terms," adding that "the balance point of regional connectivity between China and India could shift."