Everyday Justice and Security in the Myanmar Transition

project summary

This timely project will build research capacity and inform policy interventions by investigating the production of locally legitimate authority in transitional contexts with contested statehood. This is analyzed through the lens of everyday justice and security provision in two of Myanmar’s ethnic-minority states – Karen and Mon - where decades of armed conflict have subjected populations to multiple authorities and conflict stakeholders. The state’s failure to provide public goods, including justice and security, does not imply an absence of governance or societal order, but rather the functioning of alternative governance arrangements. Evidence-based knowledge of such arrangements is acutely needed as Myanmar reforms its institutions and opens up for international donors after 65 years of conflict and authoritarian rule. Theoretically, the project contributes to state-of-the art debates on fragile statehood with an innovative focus on the importance of translocal relations. Qualitative case studies and network analysisare used. We apply the concepts of hybridization, strategies of legitimization, and translocality to connect our empirical observations to broader theories of authority. The project forms a partnership between Yangon University, Enlightened Myanmar Research, Danish Institute for International Studies and Aarhus University. Through this partnership, the project assists in strengthening Myanmar’s capacity for social science research.