Email: thetthitsar@iss.nl

Affiliation: International Institute of Social Studies (ISS)

Nationality: Myanmar

Public authority during political ruptures: The politics of natural resources and agrarian society in Myanmar

Abstract

A significant body of scholarship explores the production of de facto public authority over people and natural resources in contexts with conflict, political ruptures, and contested statehoods in different parts of the world. Myanmar presents a critical case for studying the formation of public authority beyond the state during times of rupture, given its history of military rule and ethno-nationalist divisions. This paper explores how political restructuring during the political ruptures brought about by the 2021 military coup and the subsequent armed and non-armed resistance mean political and social stratification and the factors attributable to this change. The paper focuses on a state, namely, Karenni, within the context of a federal structure and/or perspective, with emphasis on the rural society. The paper poses questions:

how the newly emerged political authorities of Karenni are claiming and strengthening public authorities and legitimacy around natural resource governance particularly mining and forest, and how the rural agrarian communities have been transformed by restructured political structure. Prior to the 2021 military coup, there were already parallel state-like systems operated by ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) in border regions, which exercised authority over territories, people, and natural resources. The military coup and the following extensive armed struggle against it have further pluralized claimants to public authority seeking political authority unprecedentedly higher in autonomy. Despite the existing body of scholarship that explores the production of de facto public authorities in Myanmar's contested areas largely controlled by EAOs before the 2021 coup, few academic studies, particularly in-depth ethnographic study with in-situ data collection, has been undertaken on that of post 2021 coup. The change in political structure in post 2021 coup is revealed in the emergence of new public authorities at three levels: national, federal unit (formerly tended to use the term "sub-national") and local. The paper argues that many politically, ethnically and genderly less powerful and non-elite actors gain powers in the altered political structure of the country at different levels. The paper insists that the political authority is mutually constitutive between claimants of authority and the people, and that legitimization of authority is also influenced by the relations between different claimants to authority, involving negotiation, collaboration, and competition.

The sectors of mining and forest are the two main natural resource sectors of Karenni which have been historically exploited by the British imperialism and Myanmar State. The newly emerged public authorities in the area who are politically and militarily resisting against Myanmar army - civil society, youth groups, ethnic political parties, elected politicians of 2020 General Election, EAOs and newly emerged resistant armies - have collectively established a governing institution from federal unit level to village level. Collective governing platform largely served as facilitating entity of negotiations and institutionalization of authorities by which each power holder claims authorities and legitimacy.

Epistemologically, the paper applies critical constructivist and scholar-activist approaches. Methodologically, the paper applies qualitative approach and ethnography. The empirical data for this paper has been gathered from 2022 to 2024, through combined in situ and online data gathering techniques. The paper is largely based on the co-production of knowledge between the researcher and various political authorities of Karenni altering the political structure of the unit as the data has been mainly collected participatorily in the process of research-based state building.

Bio

Myat Thet Thitsar is currently doing his PhD studies at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) under the ERC RRUHES-5 Program with the scholarship funded by MyClimate Project mainly operated by DIIS (Denmark). He is a member of a special program, led by Jun Borras, the "Myanmar Initiative" with and of scholar-activists from Myanmar in collaboration with the Chiang Mai University in Thailand. His PhD research supervised by Jun explores emerging de facto authorities and local revolutionary governance systems in the (re) established Karenni state in Myanmar, that is, a territory liberated from the central military regime of Myanmar. He is trained in political science and has conducted empirical and qualitative research across Myanmar since 2008. His research focuses on socio-economic development and politically sensitive issues in Myanmar, with special focus on the deepening of democracy and inequality, conflict resolution and everyday justice and security provision, and identity politics and exclusion of minority groups. He has studied these topics within the wider context of the peace and democratization process in Myanmar. His research has been disseminated at academic conferences and workshops and been published as research reports and more recently in academic outlets, like the internationally recognized journal Modern Asian Studies and the Oxford Teacircle. He has led and coordinated several research projects through international partnerships with academic institutions and aid organizations. He is a research fellow of SOAS and Danish Institute of International Studies (DIIS). As co-founder of the research NGO, Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation (EMReF), which was established in 2011, his research carrier has been committed to producing independent research on social and political developments in Myanmar. This has included the training of younger researchers in methodology and in new and critical knowledge production, which have been lacking in Myanmar due to decades of military rule and closure. He has also been committed to translating research findings into solutions and actions that can improve the lives and rights of people in Myanmar. As part of this work, he facilitates the collaboration and knowledge sharing between different civil society groups as well as contributes with policy inputs, based on research findings.