Myanmar: the country that ‘has it all’
Abstract
For scholars of Southeast Asia interested in human rights, Myanmar is a country that ‘has it all.’ I use this tongue-in-cheek expression to suggest the myriad ways that the country remains mired in structural challenges that inform its current human rights problems. In this paper, I point out the country’s most glaring structural challenges and link these to its most pressing human rights problems. A brief section about Myanmar in the context of COVID-19 offers the same conclusion as the rest of the article: while there is variance in the actors targeted and the degree of suppression, the underlying patterns of oppression remain unchanged over time.
References
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Farrelly, N. and C. Win (2016). "Inside Myanmar's Turbulent Transformation." Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies 3(1): 38-47.
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Gabusi, G. (2018). Change and Continuity: Capacity, Coordination and Natural Resources in Myanmar's Periphery. Myanmar Transformed?: People, Places and Politics. C. Win, G. McCarthy, J. Chambers and N. Farrelly, ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute: 137-160.
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MacLean, K. (2019). "The Rohingya Crisis and the Practices of Erasure." Journal of Genocide Research 21(1): 83-95.
Myint-U, T. (2020). The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century, Atlantic Books.
Oak, Y. N. and L. Brooten (2019). The Tea Shop Meets the 8 O'clock News: Facebook, Convergence and Online Public Spaces. Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change. L. Brooten, J. M. McElhone and G. Venkiteswaran. Singapore, ISEAS: 325-365.
Sadan, M. and R. Anderson (2016). Historical Perspectives on War and Peace in Kachin Space: The First Kachin Ceasefire 1944-1961. War and Peace in the Borderlands of Myanmar: The Kachin Ceasefire, 1994-2011. M. Sadan. Copenhagen, NIAS Press: 29-54.
Selth, A. (1986). "Race and Resistance in Burma, 1942-1945." Modern Asian Studies 20(3): 483-507.
Smith, M. (1999). Burma: Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity. London, Zed Books.
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Woods, K. (2011). "Ceasefire capitalism: military–private partnerships, resource concessions and military–state building in the Burma–China borderlands." The Journal of Peasant Studies 38(4): 747-770.
Beban, A., S. So and K. Un (2017). "From force to legitimation: Rethinking land grabs in Cambodia." Development and Change 48(3): 590-612.
Brenner, D. (2019). Rebel politics: a political sociology of armed struggle in Myanmar's borderlands, Southeast Asia Program Publications.
Callahan, M. P. (2005). Making Enemies: War and State Building in Burma. Ithaca, Cornell University Press.
CHRO (2012). “Threats to Our Existence”: Persecution of Ethnic Chin Christians in Burma. Nepean, Canada, Chin Human Rights Organisation.
Crouch, M. (2020). "Pre-emptive Constitution-making." Law & Society Review 54(2).
Farrelly, N. and C. Win (2016). "Inside Myanmar's Turbulent Transformation." Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies 3(1): 38-47.
Fortify Rights (2018). “They Gave Them Long Swords”: Preparations for Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity Against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, Myanmar. Bangkok, Fortify Rights.
Gabusi, G. (2018). Change and Continuity: Capacity, Coordination and Natural Resources in Myanmar's Periphery. Myanmar Transformed?: People, Places and Politics. C. Win, G. McCarthy, J. Chambers and N. Farrelly, ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute: 137-160.
Kyaw, N. N. (2020). "MYANMAR IN 2019: Rakhine Issue, Constitutional Reform and Election Fever." Southeast Asian Affairs: 235-254.
Lang, H. (2002). Fear and Sanctuary: Burmese Refugees in Thailand. Ithaca, NY, Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University.
Lintner, B. (1999). Burma in Revolt: Opium and Insurgency since 1948. Chiang Mai, Silkworm Books.
MacLean, K. (2019). "The Rohingya Crisis and the Practices of Erasure." Journal of Genocide Research 21(1): 83-95.
Myint-U, T. (2020). The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the 21st Century, Atlantic Books.
Oak, Y. N. and L. Brooten (2019). The Tea Shop Meets the 8 O'clock News: Facebook, Convergence and Online Public Spaces. Myanmar Media in Transition: Legacies, Challenges and Change. L. Brooten, J. M. McElhone and G. Venkiteswaran. Singapore, ISEAS: 325-365.
Sadan, M. and R. Anderson (2016). Historical Perspectives on War and Peace in Kachin Space: The First Kachin Ceasefire 1944-1961. War and Peace in the Borderlands of Myanmar: The Kachin Ceasefire, 1994-2011. M. Sadan. Copenhagen, NIAS Press: 29-54.
Selth, A. (1986). "Race and Resistance in Burma, 1942-1945." Modern Asian Studies 20(3): 483-507.
Smith, M. (1999). Burma: Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity. London, Zed Books.
UN (2020). Covid-19 and Human Rights: we are all in this together, United Nations: 1-22.
Woods, K. (2011). "Ceasefire capitalism: military–private partnerships, resource concessions and military–state building in the Burma–China borderlands." The Journal of Peasant Studies 38(4): 747-770.
Published
2020-06-27
How to Cite
BANKI, Susan.
Myanmar: the country that ‘has it all’.
Journal of Southeast Asian Human Rights, [S.l.], v. 4, n. 1, p. 128-139, june 2020.
ISSN 2599-2147.
Available at: <https://jurnal.unej.ac.id/index.php/JSEAHR/article/view/17922>. Date accessed: 22 dec. 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.19184/jseahr.v4i1.17922.
Section
Commentaries
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
