Author: Su Mon Thazin Aung, Institute for Strategy and Policy

Myanmar’s second 21st Century Panglong Conference, which will begin on the 24 May, comes with mixed expectations. Many are cautiously welcoming the event as a step towards amending the 2008 military-drafted constitution. But there are also those concerned that the conference will only serve as a showcase event for the Myanmar government. Read more…

Author: Nick Cheesman, ANU

Taingyintha, or ‘national races’, is among the most important political ideas in Myanmar today. Although the term is not well recognised or readily translated in English-language scholarship on Myanmar, it lies at the heart of the country’s contemporary politics. Read more…

Author: Enze Han, SOAS

Conflict has flared up again in the Kokang region along the Sino–Myanmar border, leading to the deaths of at least 30 people and the outflowing of more than 20,000 refugees from Myanmar into China’s Yunnan province. Read more…

Authors: Matthew J Walton, Oxford University and Elizabeth Rhoads, King’s College London

The electoral fallout from a controversy over the name of a bridge in Mon State is the latest bellwether for Myanmar’s National League for Democracy (NLD) government. While the NLD still won nine out of the 19 seats contested nationwide in the 1 April by-elections, it performed poorly in ethnic areas, losing seats that it had previously held in Mon, Rakhine and Shan states. Read more…

Author: Greg Raymond, ANU

With Southeast Asian nations facing a deteriorating external security environment and increasing Chinese maritime assertiveness, many commentators have predicted a widespread naval expansion in the region. Yet to date these predictions have fallen short. Instead, there has been a stagnation in Southeast Asian naval development. This can, with some irony, be explained by examining the region’s armies. Read more…

Author: Atsuko Mizuno, Kyushu University

The Sittwe deep-sea port in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, which was financed and constructed by India, will soon be launched. The port is one part of the Kaladan Multi-modal Transit Transport Project (KMTTP) in western Myanmar Read more…

Author: Mathew Davies, ANU

The democratisation of Myanmar, culminating in the National League for Democracy’s assumption of power in early 2016, was meant to mark a step forward for the Rohingya. The hopes of the international community, Myanmar’s partners in ASEAN and the Rohingya themselves have been bitterly disappointed. Read more…