The national vision of King Prithvi Narayan Shah and its influence on contemporary policy discourse in Nepal

Abstract

Morgenthau defines national interest as the survival of the state, especially the protection of physical, political, and cultural identity against encroachment by other states. The study aims at decoding the national objectives envisioned by King Prithvi Narayan Shah with national interest as an independent variable and three dependent variable’s physical identity, economic identity, and cultural identity. It also focuses on analyzing the influences of national objectives determined by King Prithvi Narayan Shah on the present policies of Nepal. The study is qualitative in design and primarily based on secondary data. It adopts a realist approach to defining national interest. The wars on the Himalayan fronts in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were directed to control Trans Himalayan trade routes and monopolize the trade between central, south, and East Asia. Nepal’s east-west unification campaign to control Trans Himalayan trade routes is assessed as the national objective embedded in the promotion of the economic interest of Nepal. King Prithvi Narayan Shah also wished to conquer the southern plain land and extend the border up to the river Ganges. The study presents the idea ‘who commands the Himalayas that rules the Indian subcontinent’, highlighting the importance of the Himalayas. King Prithvi Narayan Shah also highlighted the importance of the preservation of cultural identity as a fundamental national interest of Nepal, understanding the multi-cultural, multi-lingual, and multi-ethnic characteristics of Nepal. It is identified that the national interests and objectives envisioned by King Prithvi Narayan Shah and his successors influence the present policies of Nepal.