1. Geography — the master determinant: landlocked between two giants (India and China), Himalayan barriers, the open border with India; geography dictates the balancing imperative and makes transit a survival issue;
2. National interest and identity — sovereignty preservation as the core purpose (never colonized — a badge of honour shaping policy culture);
3. Economic condition and dependence — aid, remittances and trade dependence (India as the dominant trade partner; China's growing investment) — development needs bending policy toward all sources of capital;
4. Domestic politics and regime type — from Rana insulation to multi-party openness; federal democracy, coalition volatility and nationalist public opinion (and media) increasingly audible in foreign policy;
5. Military and security factors — small but professional army, Gurkha tradition, the open border's security externalities;
7. History and treaties — the treaty inheritance (Sugauli 1816, the 1923 treaty with Britain, 1950 India, 1960 China) as both asset and constraint;
8. International law and institutions — the UN membership, NAM identity, and law-based argumentation as Nepal's equalizing instruments;
9. Diaspora and migration realities — millions of Nepalis abroad (India historically; Gulf/ Malaysia now) making their protection a foreign-policy task;
10. Leadership and diplomacy's quality — the variable that converts fixed determinants into policy.