Myanmar

Since independence in 1948 Myanmar government found difficult to extend its authority in border areas, mostly inhabited by ethnic minorities. Governance of borderlands has traditionally been contentious, generating long-protracted insurgencies fought from ethic armed organization (EAOs) against the central government. This latter, in turn, stroke back using counter-insurgency techniques. When cease-fires were agreed, those lead to further government empowerment through the means of ceasefire capitalism (Wood 2011). Peace and un-contentious border governance have not been achieved in the wake of the relinquishment of power from the military junta in 2011, and not even after the National League for Democracy (NLD) landslide electoral victory in 2015. However, both post-military governments attempted to launch comprehensive peace-processes going beyond the use of counter-insurgency and cease-fires only (although both these tools remained widely in use). This chapter re-apprises the evolution of Myanmar's peace-process as a tool for governance of borderlands. It traces its root in pre-liberalization times, follows its evolution through both the Thein Sein (2011-2015) and Aung San Suu Kyi (2016-now) led governments, and evaluates it vis-a-vis the attempts to launch alternative peace processes sponsored by EAOs. It uses both data available in published sources and gathered through repeated fieldworks conducted both in Myanmar's center (Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon) and in its periphery (Kachin and Shan state).