The role of identity and anti-coup armed resistance in Burma
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These 15-minute videos contain the highlights of talks delivered in the Myanmar Dialogue Series, a platform enabling public debate about the pressing political and social conditions in Myanmar since the 2021 military coup. Where Dialogue Series speakers give their permission, we will create a Dialogue Short which condenses the core points of their presentation.
The Shorts are perfect for undergraduate classes and other educational settings where students need concise information on current pressing political and social issues in Myanmar. Policymakers and people working in settings with a lot of time constraints might also find that they usefully summarize issues about which they need to be abreast in order do plan and make decisions on Myanmar — and that they draw attention to the many promising new scholars of Myanmar emerging both from within the country and abroad.
Title: The role of identity and anti-coup armed resistance in Burma
Date: Fri 25 March 2022
Speaker: Aung Kaung Myat, University of Hong Kong
Aung Kaung Myat is an MPhil candidate at the University of Hong Kong. His research interests include ethnicity and nationalism in Burma and beyond.
Chair: Tony Neil, Visiting Fellow, Department of Political and Social Change, ANU
It is generally assumed that civil wars are dyadic interactions between the state and non-state armed groups. This conceptual framework overlooks the micro-level cleavage, which fosters and sustains the war.
This presentation discusses Burma's case where proliferation of the anti-junta and pro-junta armed groups has created more complex and multi-layered issues against the backdrop of decades-long civil war.
It is argued that emergence of new actors is due to the pre-existing social, political, religious, and communal grievances which are interwoven with their local identity. The micro-cleavage is key to understanding the identity formation and armed politics in Burma. Implications for research and society are also discussed.