Loyalty without Patriotism: Nepali Gurkha Soldiers in the Indian Army

• In Event: Loyalty, Protests, and Popular Resistance in Asia

Abstract

Conventional wisdom suggests that national armies are constituted of citizens. Empirically this is not always true. Across the world, thirty-one states turn to foreign nationals to meet their military labor needs. Why do some states turn to foreign soldiers, while others do not? How do militaries turn soldiers who are not patriotic citizens into loyal troops? These related questions remain salient in many countries where military labor resources are shrinking because of aging populations or changing lifestyles, but the demand for military labor remains strong. Drawing on interviews of Nepali Gorkha soldiers and Indian officers who have commanded them as well as historical documents, this paper will explore the questions of the participation of foreign citizens and their integration in national armies by focusing on the Nepali Gorkha participation in the Indian Army. It is a hard case because democratically elected Indian governments retained and increased the participation of the Gorkha soldiers in a military labor surplus country. The army successfully integrated the Gorkha soldiers, who while remaining patriotic Nepalis, developed a strong institutional loyalty for the Indian Army.

Author

• Amit Ahuja, University of California, Santa Barbara