Citation

Ray S. Armed Forces Soc. 2013; 39(3): 560-575.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0095327X12449427

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Did colonial rule "construct" the "martial races" or do these groups have an innate cultural disposition toward military service? Despite the centrality of this question for evaluating different military manpower recruitment strategies in postcolonial settings, no study has subjected these hypotheses to systematic empirical testing. This article fills this gap using an original data set on the colonial status of 181 ethnic groups across twenty-nine ex-British colonies to examine the origins of colonial "martialness." The empirical analysis provides robust evidence in support of the constructivist argument.

Language: en