Nepal’s 1990 People’s Uprising is a prism through which to glimpse essential features of civil society and democratization. By analyzing in detail the dynamics of the uprising—including which social forces were central to it, how civil society and political parties related to each other, and to what extent the uprising was carried through to its logical conclusion—Nepal’s democratization can be better understood. The history of 1990 jana andolan (or people’s movement) demonstrates empirically that spontaneous popular movements were far ahead of political parties in terms of their aspirations and actions.