THE ROHINGYA CRISIS: WHY THE WORLD MUST ACT DECISIVELY

The dimensions of the crisis generated by the systematic persecution and expulsion of Rohingyas by the Myanmar authorities have been a sustained subject for global debate in these present times. The refusal of the Myanmar government to heed the world's warnings, its obfuscations in the matter of following through on the recommendations of the Annan Commission, and the dogged reluctance of Aung San Suu Kyi, once an ardent advocate of democracy and human rights in her country, to speak up for the Rohingyas have left the international community deeply disappointed. And disturbing too is a report by UN investigators on human rights abuses in Myanmar's Rakhine state. The problem does not look about to be resolved any time soon, with more than 750,000 Rohingyas taking refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh, pushing social dynamics in an already over-populated country to the edge. The fear is that the crisis could fester before getting dangerously out of hand, unless the global community goes for decisive action.     

LASTING PEACE A decades-old international relations tenet remains crucial to global security

正Although China is demonstrating its peaceful approach to international affairs,it has always been an easy target for critics in the Western media.Any unharmonious interaction between China and its neighbors is likely to be exaggerated by the outside world as China’s wrongdoing.Observers call it undergoing the"growing pains"of a giant.Regardless,China is trying to     

Asymmetric bargaining between Myanmar and China in the Myitsone Dam controversy: social opposition akin to David's stone against Goliath

The Myitsone Dam suspension is an asymmetric negotiation between Naypyitaw and Beijing. The bilateral agreement of the hydropower project was concluded in 2009. However, Myanmar's civil society started to oppose the dam when political opportunities expanded in 2011. The quasi-civilian government in Myanmar was caught in an ‘audience cost dilemma': either to disappoint domestic constituents by fulfilling international obligations, or to compensate the Chinese dam developer for breaching the contract. In September 2011, Myanmar President Thein Sein declared the suspension of the dam throughout his tenure. Unexpectedly, China's state-owned dam company did not sue Naypyidaw. Moreover, Beijing even engaged with societal actors in Myanmar to seek their support for the project. How could Naypyitaw defy Beijing in this Myitsone Dam case? Drawing from 35 interviews with anti-dam campaigners and other stakeholders, as well as secondary data, this article argues that the rise of civil society successfully conditioned Naypyitaw's diplomatic options in the controversy. The change of Beijing's diplomatic strategy confirms that domestic constraint in Myanmar is not rhetorical. The Myitsone Dam case is an example that shows bilateral agreement without domestic endorsement can become China's business risk. Presumably, the dispute has wider implications for other Chinese overseas projects outside Myanmar.     

The Pyu Ancient Cities World Heritage application: lessons from Myanmar on transnational advocacy networks

The announcement of 22 June 2014 from the World Heritage Committee that Pyu Ancient Cities had been added to the World Heritage List was significant for Myanmar, since it represented the country’s first World Heritage site. The World Heritage listing was the culmination of a process driven by a convergence of forces originating from within and outside of Myanmar. An interpretation of Pyu Ancient Cities as involving a transnational network of supporters echoes the work on transnational advocacy networks, which looks to phenomena involving transnational efforts to advance particular issues on behalf of activists against their government. This study examines Pyu Ancient Cities by producing a model that helps to illuminate the efficacy of its social network to engage in transnational advocacy.     

Authority in rebel groups: identity,recognition and the struggle over legitimacy

This article asks how rebel leaders capture and lose legitimacy within their own movement. Analysing these complex and often uneasy relations between elites and grassroots of insurgency is important for understanding the success or failure of peace processes. This is because internal contestation over authority between rival rebel leaders can drive a movement’s external strategy. Based on ethnographic research on the Karen and Kachin rebellions in Myanmar and insights from Political Sociology, the article suggests that leadership authority is linked to social identification and the claim to recognition among insurgent grassroots. If rebel leaders manage to satisfy their grassroots’ claim to recognition, their insurgent orders are stable. Failing this, their authority erodes and is likely to be challenged. These findings contribute to understanding insurgency and peace negotiations in Myanmar and civil wars more generally by showing how struggles over legitimacy within rebel groups drive wider dynamics of war and peace.     

Unpacking the Presumed Statelessness of Rohingyas1

ABSTRACT

The decades-old Rohingya problem, which has affected Myanmar and other Southeast Asia countries, has long been defined in terms of forced migration, statelessness, and humanitarian crisis. As the problems involving Rohingya refugees, forced migrants, and internally displaced persons are commonly believed to have stemmed from the highly discriminatory 1982 Citizenship Law, international advocacy has focused on amending or repealing the law as the ultimate solution. Despite the law's several discriminatory provisions, this article argues that the real problem primarily lies in a lack of implementation by successive Myanmar governments and the Rohingya's arbitrary deprivation of the right to nationality and citizenship documentation.     

Grabbing back: essays against the global land grab

ABSTRACT

Extensive research, mainly undertaken by nutrition scientists and economists, indicates that the presence of a home garden is positively associated with improved household nutrition in rural households of the global South. However, this literature is relatively silent on the contexts that influence home garden uptake. This is problematic given rapidly changing social and economic landscapes, which reshape the place and scope for home gardens within households’ livelihood and food provisioning arrangements. Original research from Myanmar reported here reveals that emergent socio-economic contexts for rural households are posing heightened challenges for home gardens to contribute to food and nutrition security.     

二战后归国难侨“复员”缅甸析论

二战后在归国难侨“复员”缅甸问题上,国民政府与英缅政府、缅甸新政府在中国侨民返缅条件、时机、资格甄审等问题上进行了大量交涉,难侨“复员”缅甸结果差强人意。国民政府的华侨“复员”交涉并未因战后东南亚局势的变动而及时调整,墨守成规,缺乏智慧和勇气。独立后的缅甸也基于该国内政的考虑,利用甄别侨民资格、分期分批返回等手法尽量减少华侨重返当地。随着国共两党内战的加剧,国民政府对华侨“复员”工作无暇关注,遣侨工作不了了之,引起归侨的不满。     

全球化背景下的缅甸政治危机

在一场佛教僧侣和学生带头的和平示威平息之后,美国参议院一致通过决议强烈要求东盟暂停缅甸的会员资格,缅甸问题成为东盟会议关注的焦点.经过磋商,东盟最终拒绝了美国参议院要求东盟暂停成员资格以惩罚缅甸军政府的要求.新加坡总理李显龙在峰会开幕仪式致词时说:"东盟将努力防止缅甸问题成为我们加深一体化和建立东盟共同体的障碍."     

缅甸政治形势探析

粉碎一起由军事强人———奈温的亲属策划的家庭政变对许多人来说是好消息 ,但这对民主发展并没有什么帮助。奈温的亲属告诉审问者 ,他们策划政变是因为政府的经济政策导致他们损失了许多钱 ,而且他们不再享有特权。没有人会相信那些被逮捕的人竟然会策划一场“政变”。这起粉碎政变最有可能的目的便是军政府自身在为后奈温时代做准备。军政府旨在打垮奈温家庭势力的紧急行动非常明智。他们不希望出现另一股势力。