Christian Networks, Insurgent Capacity, and Intra-Ethnic Conflict in Myanmar

• In Event: Legacies of Colonial Institutions in Contemporary Civil Wars

Abstract

While most of the political violence in Myanmar comes from conflicts between ethnic armed organizations and the central state, intra-ethnic conflicts have increased in recent years. In Myanmar as elsewhere, scholars and observers have often seen these conflicts as the outcome of political manipulation by incumbent states to fragment ethnic minorities and undermine secessionism. While useful, this thesis does not explain why some groups allow themselves to be mobilized by the state while others do not. This paper contends that a key driver of intra-ethnic conflict is related to insurgents’ “capacity,” in particular, insurgents’ capacity to exercise social control over noncombatants. Social control, which is particularly difficult across ethnic lines, is important because noncombatants provide crucial information, intelligence, funding, and labor. The paper identifies two mechanisms through which social control is achieved or hindered: pre-war social networks and the delivery local public goods. Based on field research conducted between 2014 and 2019, the paper argues that Baptist networks and institutions spread unevenly among Karen and Kachin populations during the late colonial period. In the 1950 and 1960s, nationalist leaders built their insurgent organizations on these networks and institutions. These networks and institutions tended to centre on a core ethnic group, while marginalizing or excluding other ethnically-related groups. As a result, and despite holding inclusive nationalist discourses, insurgent organizations’ social control was always more fraught or difficult in the periphery of these networks, which has forced insurgent organizations to use greater coercion and violence when dealing with some co-ethnic groups. In sum, the paper argues that the legacies of colonial missionary activities help explain the counter-mobilization of some ethnic groups and the growing inter-ethnic conflicts observed in some parts of Myanmar.

Author

• Alexandre Pelletier, Laval University