Description:
Executive Summary:
"Rural and mountainous areas across many of Myanmar?s non-Bamar regions are contested by multiple
governance actors with overlapping claims to territory, including: the Myanmar government and
armed forces, countless state-backed ethnic militia, and dozens of opposition ethnic armed groups.
Many of the varied ethnic armed actors have much deeper relations with local communities than the
state does,1
and in numerous cases, have been the only administrative authorities of these regions in
the country?s history. Very few of their territories have clearly agreed borders, and none are
sanctioned officially by law or in the constitution.
While, out of necessity, successive governments have continued to tolerate or even accommodate the
role of ethnic armed actors in subnational administration, they have persisted in attempts to design
the state around their particular ideal vision of ?the Union”, rather than in coordination and
compromise with subnational actors. This has resulted in an ongoing failure to establish constitutional
arrangements that truly reflect power relations and political realities on the ground. One of the key
challenges that must be addressed in the current peace process, therefore, is the nature of
subnational administration in these contest areas.
Given this challenging environment, The Asia Foundation carried out research in 2015 to examine and
compare de jure and de facto administration systems in Myanmar?s conflict-affected areas, and how
they relate to longstanding disputes over constitutional arrangements for subnational governance.
This report seeks to provide a better understanding of the complex political geography in contested
areas, and highlights how challenging it will be to achieve a political solution to conflict. This is of
particular importance to international actors, given the heightened interest in supporting the peace
process and increasing levels of humanitarian and development assistance to conflict-affected areas..."
Source/publisher:
Asia Foundation
Date of Publication:
2015-06-00
Date of entry:
2015-09-11
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Language:
English
Local URL:
Format:
pdf
Size:
3.21 MB