Assessing Conflict Drivers In Myanmar

Between September and October Integrity research analyst Will Carter led a three-person team to Myanmar to complete a Strategic Conflict Assessment and Conflict Sensitivity Study. The research collected data on and from two conflict-affected areas in the country, Kachin State and Mon State. Also in the team were two postgraduates from the Durham Global Security Institute, Howard Murray and Martin Proctor.

Myanmar suffers multiple conflicts and extreme poverty within certain parts of its territory. As the country increasingly opens up to international systems, humanitarian relief and development work opportunities are emerging. Aid has the potential to directly and indirectly affect the conflicts in Myanmar, unintentionally exacerbating them at worst, or sometimes when carefully considered, even ameliorating them.

The report analyses two ‘ethnic’ conflicts in Myanmar through Ethno-Nationalist, Political Economic and Social Movement perspectives, critically examining diverse drivers of conflict in order to assist forthcoming development work to be as comprehensive as possible. Deeper insight into conflict in Myanmar is also drawn out by contrasting the two case studies against each other.