ARTICLES

12 May 2022

The Next Phase of Myanmar’s 2021 Spring Revolution Turns on Contested Local Authority

Aung Tun

As the Arakan Army establishes more control over Rakhine State, the future success of the national revolution may hinge on whether a parallel local administrative system can be established in other areas including Myanmar’s heartland. Providing a workable alternative to the State Administration Council’s governance will enable the revolution to mature as it meets the people’s demands for rule of law and governance.

18 Apr 2022

An Unexpected Stillness in the Heart of Wartime Myanmar

Mary Callahan

The monks in Pakokku, a major centre of Buddhist learning and training, have not reprised the role played by their predecessors in the historic Saffron Revolution in 2007. Several factors can explain this, the foremost of which revolves around the clergy’s conception of order and hierarchy.

Armed Conflict Myanmar Myanmar Military Myanmar Politics Religion

11 Apr 2022

Silent Strikes: Striking Against the SAC’s Chance to Govern

Aung

The SAC’s brutal crackdowns on Myanmar protestors have had limited effect on the creative ‘silent strikes’ organised on three occasions since February 2021. Townships throughout the country became ‘ghost towns’ to protest the SAC’s atrocities, and there are hints that these actions have unsettled some within the regime.

Myanmar Myanmar Military Myanmar Politics

1 Apr 2022

Myanmar’s Post-coup Electricity Woes: Stalled Power Plans, Shattered Public Trust

Khine Win

Two years ago, and even a year ago in the aftermath of the 1 February 2021 coup, Yangon was not suffering severe blackouts. While there were sporadic electricity cuts for a few hours a day in some of its townships, electricity supply was more stable and predictable than ten or fifteen years earlier. This experience has left city dwellers wondering what accounts for the severe power cuts now.

Myanmar Myanmar Economy Myanmar Military

23 Mar 2022

Myanmar Returns to Import Substitution: Primed to Fail

Khine Win

The State Administration Council has initiated a raft of import substitution policies in an attempt to support domestic industralisation. This approach was tried in the past – and failed.

Myanmar Myanmar Economy Myanmar Military

3 Mar 2022

From Remote Paradise to Levelled Villages: The Sit-Tat Assault on the ‘Yaw Valley’

Mary Callahan

The Yaw Valley, one of the most remote and bucolic areas in Myanmar’s Buddhist heartland, has seen fierce skirmishes between the military and local resistance forces. The junta sees the area as strategic as it sits on the road to the military’s headquarters at Kalay airport.

Armed Conflict Myanmar Myanmar Military

28 Feb 2022

The State of Southeast Asia Survey

The State of Southeast Asia Survey: An Outlet for Myanmar Aspirations

Moe Thuzar

In the 2022 State of Southeast Asia Survey, Myanmar respondents are markedly negative towards the State Administration Council. This has coloured their assessment of ASEAN's effectiveness in handing the country's ensuing political crisis.

Myanmar Myanmar Military Myanmar Politics State of Southeast Asia Survey

9 Feb 2022

Myanmar’s Dry Zone: The History of a Tinderbox

Mary Callahan

The Dry Zone has traditionally not suffered violence at the hands of the Myanmar military. But decades of mismanagement and strained living conditions have fueled anti-junta resistance in the military’s Buddhist-Bamar heartland.

Myanmar Myanmar Military Myanmar Politics

26 Jan 2022

Myanmar’s New Political Economy Takes Shape

Romain Caillaud

Nearly a year after the military coup in Myanmar, a new political economy is emerging, even as the economy tanks and the human rights context worsens.

Myanmar Myanmar Economy Myanmar Military Myanmar Politics

26 Jan 2022

Myanmar’s State Administration Council: A Shell Entity?

Htet Myet Min Tun

Recent shake-ups in the Tatmadaw show that it may not be as monolithic an institution as it portrays itself to be. The State Administration Council has gradually turned into a shell entity with power becoming more concentrated in the hands of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

Myanmar Myanmar Military Myanmar Politics