A Case Study of Gorkhali: Private Military and Security Companies in Global Security Assemblages
The discourse about the Nepali citizens joining the Russo-Ukraine war has once again sparked the attention among stakeholders regarding Gorkhali’s engagement with global private Security firms. The engagement of Gorkhali with global security firms, including Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) and Private Military Companies (PMCs), is not a new phenomenon; it has been seen since the end of the Cold War when PMSCs came into existence. The exponential rise of PMSCs and practices of outsourcing the state’s security and military matters is becoming a global phenomenon, where the Global South countries are increasingly providing security labour to PMSCs/PMCs. In this regard, Gorkhali are significant contributors and famous within PMSCs due to their long history of mercenaries and constructed narrative of bravery and loyalty. Which further attracted Gorkhali to the private security market. The existing literature on PMSCs has dealt with the interrelationship between client state and PMSCs and PMSC’s role in global security governance and assemblages. Still, it needed to be looked at from the perspective of Gorkhali. The emerging consequences and contradictions about Gorkhali become important while looking from the perspective of Gorkhali in PMSCs-led global security governance. So, this research aims to examine the emerging complex interrelationship among PMSCs, client state, Gorkhali, and Nepal. The research uses the ‘global assemblages’ approach because it captures multiple actors’ fluid relationships, changes, emerging practices, authority, and institutions. For that, this research uses two cases: first, the situation after the 2016 Taliban attack on Gorkhali, and second, the situation of Gorkhali after Afghanistan fall to the Taliban. while serving for PMSCs. It uses the ‘discourse analysis’ to incorporate books, journal articles, media cover, and interviews of security guards and their families available on media on the research topic. Lastly, this research argues that the blurred relation between PMSCs and the client state is not only seen in the case of their security and military matters and responsibility, but blur relation is also visible in the case of taking responsibility for any tragic event/accident of Gorkhali in PMSCs-led global security governance. This complex interaction also influences Nepal’s interstate relations, institutions, and practices.
Keywords: Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs), Gorkhali, Governance, Assemblages