The Nonmartial Origins of the “Martial Races”

What is it about?

The so-called "martial race" doctrine continues to persist in the armed manpower recruitment practices of several ex-British colonies. This paper combines data on the pre-colonial attributes of ethnic groups from the Ethnographic Atlas with an original dataset on the colonial attributes of these groups to explore the determinants of colonial recruitment practices.

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Why is it important?

The paper has useful implications for ongoing political debates about the relative efficacy of conscripted versus all volunteer forces, particularly in the context of ex-British colonies.