Maximillian Morch

Maximilian Morch is a researcher and the author of ‘Plains of Discontent: A Political History of Nepal’s Tarai, 1743–2019’ (2023). He has worked on humanitarian and human rights issues in Myanmar since 2017.

U Thant and the lost promise of the United Nations

Thant Myint-U’s new book on his grandfather, the first non-white secretary-general of the UN, revisits an era when the institution inspired expectations of internationalist diplomatic leadership that have since faded away

By Maximillian Morch

/ 2 Jun 2026

A black-and-white photograph of U Thant, the Burmese diplomat and former UN secretary-general, seated behind a microphone with his fist raised near his face

Bland lessons and careful lies from Bhutan’s prime minister

Tshering Tobgay’s memoir is all praise for Bhutan’s monarchy and fledgling democracy, but it misrepresents the Lhotshampa expulsion and the fraught political history of the “Kingdom of Happiness”

By Maximillian Morch

/ 6 Jun 2025

Tshering Tobgay in traditional Bhutanese attire, wearing glasses and a red patterned gho, stands at a podium delivering a spe

The silent epidemic: High suicide rates in Nepal expose the lack of mental healthcare facilities in the country

Going by World Health Organisation (WHO) data, Nepal ranks very high in suicide rates, with 15 people taking their lives every day, on average. The country ranks seventh in the

By Maximillian Morch

/ 11 May 2016

The silent epidemic: High suicide rates in Nepal expose the lack of mental healthcare facilities in the country