Challenging hydropower development in Myanmar (Burma): cross-border activism under a regime in transition

Simpson, Adam

doi:10.1080/09512748.2012.759264

Cited by 42 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…7,this volume). Momentum for the projects has been stalled as riverside communities in Thailand and Myanmar, sometimes in collaboration with a range of local, national and international CSOs, have contested and challenged the plans for large plans (Magee/Kelley 2009;Simpson 2013). Strategies have ranged from undertaking different types of research to celebrating the river and organizing protests and lodging complaints with the Myanmar Government and the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand.…”

Section: Civil Society Work Across Scalesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydropower Politics and Conflict on the Salween River

Middleton

Scott²,

Lamb

2019

Knowing the Salween River: Resource Politics of a Contested Transboundary River

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Section: Civil Society Work Across Scalesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydropower Politics and Conflict on the Salween River

Middleton

Scott²,

Lamb

2019

Knowing the Salween River: Resource Politics of a Contested Transboundary River

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“…Over 100 people in Kachin State have been charged under Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act since 2016 (UN, ). Whereas overt protests and public critiques of state, and especially military, action remain extremely risky in Kachin State itself, an activist diaspora has been highly vocal about environmental and human rights issues (Hkun Sa, ; Simpson, : 137).…”

Section: Kachin State: a Conflict Setting Within A Transition Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Building Kachin’: Youth and Everyday Action in one of Myanmar's Ethnic States

Oosterom¹,

Maran²,

Wilson³

2019

Development and Change

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In 2011, Myanmar started its political transition after decades of military rule. In Kachin State this coincided with the breaking of a 17‐year ceasefire between the Kachin Independence Organization/Army (KIO/A) and the state army, the Tatmadaw. For youth living in Kachin State, this meant that opportunities for civic and political participation opened up while at the same time their context remained volatile and uncertain. Using citizenship theory and the concept of the ‘everyday’, this article analyses how youth in Kachin State connect the challenges they experience to their sense of citizenship, and how this informs everyday forms of youth action as well as youth participation in policy processes. The article argues that young people act out of moral and political reasons to ‘build Kachin’, in response to deeply historically rooted experiences of discrimination and state repression. While the agency of young people living in conflict settings is often believed to be limited to tactical agency for individual and immediate survival, an analysis of youth's experiences of citizenship shows that they also act strategically to advance the interests of their society.

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“…Although the military remained in control of the state apparatus, under President Thein Sein (a high-ranking general in the State Peace and Development Council [SPDC] regime) the government liberalized freedom of speech and association (including legal protest and demonstration); opened the economy to international firms and NGOs; and since 2012 allowed some parliamentary oversight of public projects (Maung Aung Myoe, 2013). Political liberalization in turn enabled greater civil society mobilization around protecting the Ayeyarwady [Irrawaddy] river against the Myitsone Dam without evident reprisal (Anonymous, 2012b;Simpson, 2013). In 2011, however, public university and government employees were discouraged from engaging in such mobilization (Interview Q).…”

Section: Development Contextsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Myanmar's 2011 suspension of this contested $US3.6 billion energy project was unprecedented (Zhu et al, 2016). Academic accounts focus on various facets relevant to legitimation, for example: activism (Simpson, 2013(Simpson, , 2014; Kachin and Burmese nationalist politics (Kiik, 2016b); the role of Chinese energy developers and Sino-Myanmar relations (Lamb and Dao, 2017;Perlez, 2006;Sun, 2012;Yeophantong, 2016aYeophantong, , 2016b, environmental and social safeguard norms (Kirchherr et al, 2016b(Kirchherr et al, , 2017, perceptions of environmental risk and elite corruption (Kirchherr et al, 2016a) and the role of expert knowledge in decision making (Zhu et al, 2016). Such analyses illuminate a complex case and its context, while suggesting to us that a holistic analysis of hydropower legitimation challenges is timely.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large hydropower and legitimacy: A policy regime analysis, applied to Myanmar

Kiik¹

2017

Preprint

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Hydropower development in capacity-constrained countries can unfold through unsound policy arguments, narrow institutional and implementing arrangements, and ad hoc decision making processes. To derive insights for more legitimate policy making, we provide the first holistic account of Myanmar’s legitimation struggles over large hydropower, focusing on Myitsone, the country’s most controversial dam, during the period 2003–2011. Our analysis takes a policy regime perspective (specifically, a “political economic regime of provisioning” framework). Among our findings: (1) frequent use of non-rationally persuasive argument among contending actors; (2) a spiral of declining policy legitimacy, which is amplified by civil society mobilization, and halted by a 2011 decision to suspend Myitsone; (3) rejection of Myitsone but conditional acceptance of large hydropower among some elements of civil society. Opportunity and capability for more technically informed, inclusive discussion exists in Myanmar, but given hydropower’s complexities, urgently deserves to be augmented. Although Myitsone in Myanmar is an exceptional case, we offer three propositions to assess and improve policy legitimacy of hydropower.

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Challenging hydropower development in Myanmar (Burma): cross-border activism under a regime in transition

Cited by 42 publications

References 55 publications

Hydropower Politics and Conflict on the Salween River

Hydropower Politics and Conflict on the Salween River

‘Building Kachin’: Youth and Everyday Action in one of Myanmar's Ethnic States

Large hydropower and legitimacy: A policy regime analysis, applied to Myanmar

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