The Salween borderlands can be conceptualised as spaces of exception where contradictory outcomes of state actions lead to state violence. The Burmese and Thai states have maintained their sovereign power and responded to economic regionalisation through violent practices in particular spaces. The political conflicts between the Burmese junta and ethnic minorities in the Salween borderlands have become war zones. The Burmese government in association with the Thai state and transnational dam investors has imposed the Salween dam projects on the Salween borderlands and people in the form of a terrorising state. The border people have experienced fear, danger and military violence, which has become part of the violence in everyday life. This paper provides an ethnographic study focused on specific events involving an explosion and death in a particular place and time on the Salween borderland. It shows the suffering of the border people in relation to sovereign power.

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The current situation in the Thai-Burmese borderlands can be labeled 'frontier capitalism', that is , capitalist expansion into the borderlands that is characterized by political conflict, state recognition that ethnicity issue playings a key role in preventing women and men from obtaining Thai citizenship, and competition for control of natural resources through development programmes. Among the numerous stakeholders involved are local Karen people, including women, who are asserting their rights over natural resources and protecting their livelihoods. This article argues that the women's motives are based on the ethics of care. Considering the precarious situations and the risks to sustainability of natural resources, Karen women at border villages have raised their voices to protect the future of their families and the community. However, their association with community men for joint action is riddled with many challenges. Therefore, they have to seek survival strategies and create opportunities to negotiate with frontier capitalism to secure better livelihoods.