Or did you mean the regular army? They put down a major Maoist insurgency over the decade of 1996-2006, and have remained a significant force in Nepal. Historically they’ve played a major role in power transitions, such as the Rana era from 1846-1951 when military officer Jung Bahadur Rana overthrew the monarchy and established a hereditary prime ministership, and then again in King Mahendra’s 1960 coup when the monarchy took power until the 1990s.
But fortunately they’ve not been as prominently involved at playing “kingmaker” as the militaries of many other South Asian countries. They tend to act as a stabilizing force for whoever gets power by other means. I guess we’ll see if that pattern continues to the current unrest.
Exactly that’s what makes Nepal’s military role so interesting compared to its neighbors. They’ve intervened at pivotal moments in history, but not in a way that consistently dominates politics like we’ve seen in Pakistan or Myanmar. It’ll be telling whether they continue to act as stabilizers or if current unrest pushes them into a more decisive role again.
Yes, for example the Gurkhas are from Nepal.
Or did you mean the regular army? They put down a major Maoist insurgency over the decade of 1996-2006, and have remained a significant force in Nepal. Historically they’ve played a major role in power transitions, such as the Rana era from 1846-1951 when military officer Jung Bahadur Rana overthrew the monarchy and established a hereditary prime ministership, and then again in King Mahendra’s 1960 coup when the monarchy took power until the 1990s.
But fortunately they’ve not been as prominently involved at playing “kingmaker” as the militaries of many other South Asian countries. They tend to act as a stabilizing force for whoever gets power by other means. I guess we’ll see if that pattern continues to the current unrest.
Exactly that’s what makes Nepal’s military role so interesting compared to its neighbors. They’ve intervened at pivotal moments in history, but not in a way that consistently dominates politics like we’ve seen in Pakistan or Myanmar. It’ll be telling whether they continue to act as stabilizers or if current unrest pushes them into a more decisive role again.