"It became undeniably clear that Burma?s peace negotiation process would not result in the establishment of "a new democratic federal union" following the second 21st Century Panglong Conference1 (21CPC), held in May 2017. The objective of the 2nd 21CPC was to create a forum where representatives of the Burma Army, also known as the Tatmadaw, Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAOs), political parties, government, parliament and other stakeholders could negotiate a set of principles to guide the formation of a democratic federal union. This briefer analyses the peace negotiation process using dialogue over land management powers as a case study, by tracing original demands and negotiations related to land from the Karen ethnic-level national political dialogues held in January 2017 up to the 21CPC in May 2017. The land policy principles ?agreed” during the 2nd 21CPC contradict the recommendations developed through Karen national-level political dialogues, which clearly called for local ownership and state land management powers..."