UNITY JOURNAL Discourse of civil military relations in Nepal Chiranjibi Bhandari Rajendra Sharma Abstract Keywords: civil military relations, the Nepali Army, regime change, nation–state, A sovereign nation –state requires a strong dynamics military institution and the Nepali Army demands its personnel’s obedience, loyalty, Introduction sacrifice and discipline to maintain command It was commonly believed that the state army and control. However, as an established was established prior to the unification of principle, civilian control of the military is Nepal. King Prithivi Narayan (P.N.) Shah, the desirable to the military control of the state. founder of modern Nepali nation-state, had The concept of Civil Military Relations played a significant role in the establishment (CMR) is dynamic, evolutionary and country of the military and the modern Nepal and specific. Such a bond between an official named the army as ‘Tilanga’. It was changed security organization and the public in to the ‘Gorkhali Army’ after the Gorkha general change with regime shifts, external conquest of Nuwakot. Chandra Shumsher imperatives and technological innovations. named it ‘Nepal Army’ and the title “Royal The impact of regime changes and political Army’ was given by King Mahendra, later movements has been observed in various on King Birendra named it as ‘Royal Nepal aspects of politics, society in Nepal is not an Army’ (Acharya, 2009, p. 128). It was re- exception. In this line, this article deals on named ‘Nepal Army' after the proclamation the theoretical discourse of CMR, reviews of the House of Representatives (HoR), on 18 the constitutional and legal provisions and May 2006 (ASPECT, 2011, p. 8). examines the factors influencing CMR in Besides King, civilian leaders like Bhimsen Nepal from the period of modern nation- Thapa (1775-1839) and Jung Bahadur state formation to present days. Along with Rana (1816-1877) have made significant existing debates around the role of the contribution to modernize of the Nepali Army. Nepali Army in various non-military jobs, Mukhtiyar Thapa took remarkable measures this paper proposes multiple perspectives on to advance the military administration and how different entities, including bureaucrats, institutional organization. The Lal-Dhadda, politicians and military leaders perceive the systematic maintenance of military CMR. Likewise, the writers argue that records, was initiated under his instruction. sharing the responsibilities among the civil Then Prime Minister Thapa also developed society, citizenry and military organizations a classified military organization with is one of the most suitable approaches in designations, adding the post of General and response to balancing CMR in Nepal. Colonel (Adhikari, 2015, p. 102).The Prime 21 UNITY JOURNAL Minister and Commander-in-Chief Jung The 12-point understanding, between then Bahadur Rana (1846-1856) and (1857-1877) mainstream political parties and then CPN placed all the male members of his family on (Maoist) signed in India on 22 November the rolls with military titles and the rank of 2005 paved the way to the Comprehensive Lieutenant Colonel. He further introduced Peace Accord 2006 along with subsequent a rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and adopted a political agreements. The Communist Party more inclusive recruitment policy (Adhikari, of Nepal–CPN (Maoist)’s with 220 out of 2015, p. 108). 575 seats, became the largest party in the Constituent Assembly Election I of 2008. The Interestingly, after each political change, Maoist–led incumbent Government created the Nepali Army was forced to transform turmoil in the Civil-Military Relations in to cope with the aspirations of the political Nepal. Then Prime Minister Puspa Kamal changes and leaderships in the military. In Dahal’s move to sack the Chief of the Army the 1950s, the Nepali Congress–led struggle Staff (COAS) Rookmangud Katuwal and the was concluded with the tripartite agreement President’s intervention against the elected among the Ranas, the pro-democratic force Prime Minister's decision unfolded a new led by Nepali Congress and the King that was discourse in the Civil-Military Relations mediated by India. However, the military was in Nepal. The Constituent Assembly II then downsized in a process of modernization promulgated the constitution in September of the Nepali Army upon the recommendation 2015. The successful completion of three of the Indian military mission (Basnyat, tiers of election in 2017 and practices of three 2018, p. 48). forms of government at federal, provincial In 1960, then King Mahendra Shah imposed a and local level further unraveled the discourse state of emergency, which outlawed political in CMR in Nepal. parties and dissolved the parliament in the In this background, this article briefly backing of Royal Nepal Army (RNA). The examines the discourse of the Civil- Party-less Panchayat system continued till the Military Relations, its constitutional and 1990. With restoration of democracy in 1990, legal provision in Nepal along with factors the country became a multi-lingual, multi- influencing this bond during the different ethnic but a Hindu state and Constitutional regimes. This article is based on both primary Monarchy remained unchanged in the and secondary data from different sources. Constitution of Nepal (1990). In 1996, six For the primary information, interview were years after the restoration of the democracy, taken with 20 key individuals, including country entered into an armed conflict, led military personnel and civilian. Various by then Communist Party of Nepal-CPN resource materials, such as books, articles (Maoist). The Royal massacre of 2001 and and newspapers stories were used as the the king’s direct rule (2004-2005) contributed source of secondary information. to weaken the faith of Nepalese citizens on monarchy and nurtured the synergy between Discourses of CMR the then mainstream political parties: Seven Parties Alliances (SPA) and the Maoist. CMR is an interaction between the armed forces of a state as an institution, and the other sectors of the society the armed force 22 UNITY JOURNAL is rooted in. It is perceived as power sharing and the citizenry-on four issues; the social between the legitimate civil authority of composition of officer corps, the political a state and its security forces (Sharma & decision-making process, the method of Thapa, 2010, p. 970), encompassing the recruiting soldiers, and military style (Schiff, entire range of relationship between military 2001, pp. 32-33). and civilian society (Feaver, 2003, p. 54). Theoretically, the security forces in the Also, the rising ethno-national civil wars countries with liberal democracies are placed after the end of Cold War (1945-89) on the under the command of the civil government, one hand and the internationalization of the carry out orders and are accountable to it. military as peace keeping force on the other The evolution of CMR discourse dates back hand, ‘who controls who’ in the thesis of to 1950s. Institutional theory remains the civil-military relations is itself problematic. dominant paradigm for examining civil- It was clearly proposed to share roles military relations (Huntington, 1957, pp. 81- and responsibilities among civilians and 83). As civilian control of the military, Samuel the military society for an effective Civil P. Huntington’s subjective and objective Military Relations (Bland, 1999, pp. 7-26). control of the military seems antithetical with Similarly, in order to cover the full scope of themselves. Peter Feaver's agency theory CMR, six interdependent and interpenetrated stands on different position in Huntington’s dimensions have been proposed including notions of CMR. In objective civilian control, economy, finance, technology, culture, Huntington had prescribed for autonomous, society and politics (Kummel, 2002, p. 69). apolitical, neutral professional military, Therefore, the extent to which the civilian which is not possible in liberal democracy authorities actually exercise control on the (Feaver, 2003, pp. 16-18). military differs based on characters of states as well as forms of the regime. As alternative to Huntington’s institutional set up, Michael C. Desch described 'structural Constitutional and legal provisions related environment' as determinant for military to CMR organization (Desch, 2001, pp. 8-21). In The The history of documented legal provisions Professional Soldier, Morris Janowitz argues for CMR is fairly short in Nepal. It started for the civilianization of the military by in the late eighteenth century with Dibya converging civilian and the military society. Upadesh (Nepal Law Commission, 2018, Janowitz further claims that distinction p. 9). Dibya Upadesh prescribed certain between the civilian and military roles privileges and incentives to the military and (Janowitz, 1960, p. I) that lay at the heart of clearly differentiated the military and civilian Huntington’s theory had been blurred by the spheres, valorizing the importance of the emergence of nuclear weapons and limited military in Nepal. Prominently, monarchy had war. As an alternative, Rebecca L. Schiff played a key role in establishing the Army as offers a new theory—Concordance—in the well as national security related issues from Civil-Military Relations. The concordance the unification to 1990s. For instance, even theory has an argument in a similar line after the 1950s political change with the fall with a proposition of the partnership within of the Rana regime along with the transfer of a polity-the military, the political elite, the Bijuli Garat, guns and ammunitions from 23 UNITY JOURNAL Singha Durbar (the residence of Rana Prime S. Documents Introduced/Enacted/ Minister) to the Narayanhiti Durbar (the N. Promulgated by residence of the King), the Army forces also shifted their loyalty back to the monarchy 1. Dibya King P. N. Shah and King Tribhuvan assumed the title of Upadesh (1742-1774) Supreme-Commander in Chief in April 1952 2. JangiAin PM Jung Bahadur (Kumar, 2009, p. 140). (Military Rana, 1854 Law) During the Panchayat regime (1960-1990), 3. Military Ain Interim Government, the relationship between the Army and the 1951 King was further consolidated with the 4.