Brown, Sylvia (2012) Youths in non-military roles in an armed opposition group on the Burmese ...

305 Pages·2012·5.28 MB·English

Brown, Sylvia (2012) Youths in non-military roles in an armed opposition
group on the Burmese-Thai border. PhD Thesis. SOAS, University of
London
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Youths in non-military roles in an armed
opposition group on the Burmese-Thai
border

Sylvia Brown

2012

Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the
Department of Development Studies, School of Oriental and
African Studies, University of London
Statement of Original Work

I have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of the School of
Oriental and African Studies concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material
presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in
part, by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the
published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work
which I present for examination.

Signed: ____________________________ Date: _________________
Abstract
This thesis examines how and why youths participate in non-military roles in the KNU, an
armed opposition group along the Burmese-Thai border which has been in conflict with
the Burmese state for over sixty years. It analyses the ways in which the group’s internal
youth policies and programmes, as well as external factors influence the construction of a
youth category and the particular roles youths take on in the group. It also examines how
youth participation redefines youth roles and influences inter-generational relations and
hierarchies. Finally, it considers how the KNU’s changing political and strategic goals affect
and are in turn affected by youth activities.
This thesis addresses three main questions. First, how is ‘youth’ defined and understood in
the KNU and why are they so defined? Second, why do youths take on non-military roles
in the KNU and what factors influence their career trajectory within the movement? Third,
what is the purpose of youth non-military roles in the KNU and how are these roles
shaped by the KNU’s political and strategic goals?
Whilst most writing on youth and conflict is concerned with the role of youth as armed
belligerents, this study focuses on their non military roles. It adopts an actor oriented
approach to show the interaction between the micro-level processes influencing youth
mobilisation and participation, and wider contextual factors that shape and constrain
individual decision making. These include the changing nature of the conflict, processes of
state formation, violent non state resistance, and evolving organisational adaptation by the
KNU and its leadership, all of which frame youth political action. A fine grained analysis
of youth roles and activities provides a lens to examine broader changes in the armed
group’s non-military operations and strategies as it adapts to changes in external
geopolitical and local conditions and seeks to replace declining black market revenues with
external INGO funding. This study aims to contribute to the emerging literature on youths’
engagement in armed opposition groups and the changing operations and political
strategies of armed groups from the perspective of the youth cohort.
Table of Contents
Abstract...........................................................................................................................................3
Table of Contents..........................................................................................................................4
Figures.............................................................................................................................................6
Tables..............................................................................................................................................7
Maps................................................................................................................................................7
Photos.............................................................................................................................................8
Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................................9
Map of Burma..............................................................................................................................11
Abbreviations...............................................................................................................................12
Chapter 1: Introduction..............................................................................................................15
1 Research rationale................................................................................................................15
2 Research questions and definitions...................................................................................20
3 Research design....................................................................................................................22
4 Thesis outline.......................................................................................................................23
Chapter 2: Youths in Armed Opposition Groups: Recruitment, roles and participation
patterns.........................................................................................................................................26
1 Who is a ‘youth’?.................................................................................................................27
2 Patterns of youth progression through armed opposition groups...............................32
3 Retention of recruits: Participant exit, loyalty and voice...............................................46
4 Youth roles in armed opposition groups.........................................................................49
5 Conclusion............................................................................................................................54
Chapter 3: Youths in Armed Opposition Groups: Understanding the micro-dynamics of
state-making from the periphery...............................................................................................58
1 Peripheral conflicts and state-making in the borderlands.............................................60
2 The micro-dynamics of armed opposition groups and peripheral conflicts...............69
3 Conclusion............................................................................................................................78
Chapter 4: Methodology.............................................................................................................81
1 Research Design..................................................................................................................81
2 Ethnographic Research Method.......................................................................................87
3 Data collection methods and the fieldwork period........................................................92
4 Methodological Issues......................................................................................................103
5 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................108
Chapter 5: Contested State-Making: Changing technologies of state-making and conflict
between the KNU and the Burmese military........................................................................110
1 Outbreak of conflict between the KNU and the Burmese State: Self-rule and
ethnocratic state-making......................................................................................................112
2 Changing patterns of Burmese state-making and the KNU conflict.........................118
3 Sovereignty and control in the Karen borderlands......................................................135
4 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................153
Chapter 6: Constructing ‘youth’ in the KNU........................................................................156
1 Why did the KNU create a ‘youth’ category?................................................................158
2 Who is a ‘Karen Youth’? Factors influencing the construction and representation of a
‘youth’ category in the KNU...............................................................................................160
3 Effects of creating a ‘youth’ category in the KNU.......................................................172
4 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................182
Chapter 7: Youth recruitment, progression and exit in the KNU.....................................184
1 Recruitment patterns in different zones of control......................................................184
2 Youth role allocation and career progression in the KNU.........................................206
3 Youth exit from the KNU...............................................................................................213
4 Youth participation patterns in the KNU......................................................................216
5 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................223
Chapter 8: Non-military youth roles in the KNU amid changing strategies of contestation
......................................................................................................................................................224
1 Non-military youth roles in the KNU............................................................................225
2 The importance of youth roles in the KNU amid changing strategies of contestation
.................................................................................................................................................241
3 Factors affecting youths’ non-military work in the KNU...........................................253
4 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................254
Chapter 9: Conclusions and implications: Youth participation patterns and non-military
roles in the KNU.......................................................................................................................255
1 Key findings and contributions of this thesis to the research literature....................257
2 Policy implications.............................................................................................................269
3 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................271
Bibliography...............................................................................................................................273
APPENDIX A. Guideline Life History Questions for participants..........................299
APPENDIX B. Biographical data of life history or in-depth interviews with youths300
APPENDIX C. Ethnic composition of Burma in 1911..............................................302
APPENDIX D. KYO Staffing Levels in 2008..............................................................303
Figures
Figure 1 Burma’s exports by country, 2003-2008 (Graph created from data in Turnell,
2008)................................................................................................................................................131
Figure 2 Net ODA Disbursements to Burma, 2000-2009 (OECD/DAC in World Bank,
2011)................................................................................................................................................149
Figure 3 TBBC Expenditure on Burmese refugees in Thailand (Graph created from data in
TBBC, 2011:87).............................................................................................................................150
Figure 4 Selected Cross-Border Aid (Graph created from data in TBBC, 2011:82; BPHWT,
2010, 2011 and FBR, 2010b:21)..................................................................................................151
Figure 5 KNU welfare wings approximate funding.................................................................152
Figure 6 Representing ‘KYO’: Observation of a meeting between KYO and INGO donor
representatives...............................................................................................................................157
Figure 7 Increasing opportunities for youths in the KNU: Life history interview with Saw
V......................................................................................................................................................175
Figure 8 Why does a young woman studying at a Burmese university join KYO? Life
history interview with Naw E......................................................................................................190
Figure 9 Disillusion with the Burmese education system: Life history interview with Saw U
..........................................................................................................................................................195
Figure 10 ‘Civil service’ in the KNU: Interview with Saw A..................................................198
Figure 11 “Only uneducated people remain” Interview with Saw Dot Lay Mu, Joint
Secretary 2 of the KNU’s Central Executive Committee.......................................................213
Figure 12 KYO’s Youth Political Training Programme: Contesting Burmese state-making
and building support for the KNU: Case study of Saw U......................................................234
Figure 13 Delivering the KNU’s education service in Burma with INGO funding: Case
study of Saw T...............................................................................................................................239
Figure 14 Strategic positions of brokers...................................................................................245
Figure 15 Strategic positions of brokers linked to an armed opposition group.................266
Tables
Table 1 Factors influencing youth participation in armed opposition groups.......................35
Table 2 Selected youth demographic data (UN, 2010:95-101).................................................43
Table 3 Units of analysis, issues studied and methods used.....................................................86
Table 4 Summary of Burmese and KNU state-making / state-reform strategies from 1948
..........................................................................................................................................................120
Table 5 Politically active youth opposition groups in Burma.................................................140
Table 6 Summary of three KYO representations to different audiences............................172
Table 7 Youth (aged 15-35) participation in key non-military KNU organisations............178
Table 8 Vote allocations within the KNU’s four-yearly congress........................................179
Table 9 Summary of youth recruitment patterns in KNU-affiliated organisations.............186
Table 10 Estimated KNU headcount in 2009..........................................................................207

Maps
Map 1 Administrative Map of States and Divisions in Burma (TNI, 2011)...........................11
Map 2 Map of Ethnolinguistic groups in Burma (CIA, 1972)................................................113
Map 3 Map showing divisions and states in Burma as defined by the 2008 constitution
(TNI, 2011). A rough outline of the KNU’s claimed area has been added to the map in
grey shading using KNU-produced maps.................................................................................122
Map 4 Map showing KNU-designated districts (in red) in its claimed territory (TNI,
2011:9). State boundaries as designated by the 2008 constitution are visible underneath (in
black)...............................................................................................................................................123
Map 5 Development Projects in South East Burma/Myanmar (TBBC, 2011)...................136
Map 6 Militarisation and Contested Areas in South East Burma/Myanmar (TBBC, 2011)
..........................................................................................................................................................144
Map 7 Displaced Villages in South East Burma/Myanmar (1996-2011) (TBBC, 2011)....147
Map 8 Map showing internal displacement of the civilian population in eastern Burma..188
Photos
Photo 1 Photographic discussions at the KYO house during preparations for an exhibition
commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Karen revolution. [Photo: author, 27th Jan
2009]................................................................................................................................................103
Photo 2 Part of the finished photographic exhibition which provoked significant discussion
of past and present KNU leaders. [Photo: author, 31st Jan 2009].......................................103
Photo 3 KNLA soldiers parading during Karen Revolution Day ceremony, January 2009
[Photo: author]...............................................................................................................................165
Photo 4 Traditional Karen dancing display during Karen Revolution Day ceremony,
January 2009 [Photo: author].......................................................................................................165
Photo 5 Part of the KYO exhibition of KNU leaders during Karen Revolution Day
ceremony, January 2009 [Photo: author]...................................................................................167
Photo 6 KYO exhibition of traditional Karen artefacts during Karen Revolution Day
ceremony, January 2009 [Photo: author]...................................................................................167
Photo 8 Naw E working at KYO Central office in Thailand, February 2009 [Photo: author]
..........................................................................................................................................................189
Photo 9 Saw U at KYO Central office in Thailand, April 2009 [Photo: author]................194
Photo 10 Saw A at the KYO office in Ler Per Her IDP camp, Burma, February 2009
[Photo: author]...............................................................................................................................197
Photo 11 Photo showing KNLA soldiers honoured with garlands during Karen Revolution
Day commemorative celebrations in Karen State, 31st January 2009 [Photo: author].......199
Photo 7 Youths on graduation day at the KYO’s Karen Youth Development Centre in Ler
Per Her IDP camp, February 2009 [Photo: author]................................................................227
Photo 12 A KYO political training workshop in Kawkareik township, Pa-an district
conducted from 10th-19th October 2007. The KNU’s Karen State flag is displayed above
the banner. [Photo: KYO, 2007].................................................................................................235
Photo 13 The writing on the blackboard behind the speaker shows that KYO is teaching
public defiance tactics in the workshop in Kawkareik township, October 2007. [Photo:
KYO, 2007]....................................................................................................................................235
Photo 14 KYO central and district staff conducting peer support to boarding house youths
during a political education and community organising trip. [Photo: KYO, 2007]............236
Photo 15 KYO central and district staff taking a break while travelling through the jungle
during a political education and community organising trip. [Photo: KYO, 2007]............236
Photo 16 KYO central staff distributing IDP relief assistance in Karen State [Photo: KYO,
2009]................................................................................................................................................238
Acknowledgements
Many people have offered their help and support to me during this research, without
whom this research project would never have been completed, nor probably begun. The
friendship, honesty, generosity and kindness from numerous friends, family and colleagues
kept my belief in this project going and sustained it through the bleak periods of financial
worries, writer’s block, academic timidity and boredom.
First, I would like to thank my supervisor, Jonathan Goodhand, who gave much-needed
guidance and support throughout the research and helped me to develop my ideas a
thousand-fold. His insights in to borderlands and the complex nature of armed groups
were invaluable. I am also grateful to the University of London Central Research Fund and
SOAS for their fieldwork grants.
This research would never have got off the ground without the assistance of my friends
and colleagues at the Karen Youth Organisation (KYO). I thank both KYO and VSO for
organising my first placement at KYO in 2003. It is no easy task hosting a foreigner with
absolutely no experience of your own culture and no language skills, yet the KYO staff
rose to the challenge admirably, forgave my many misunderstandings and took care of me
like I was family. During the fieldwork period, their incredible patience with my numerous,
probably quite stupid-seeming questions, was remarkable. I would like to thank each and
every one of the many staff who helped me throughout the organisation and in many
different locations, but I would no doubt forget one, so suffice it so say that I am deeply
grateful to all of you for your support and friendship.
I would also like to thank the staff at KWO, KSNG, KUSG, KHRG, Burma Issues and
KNU who gave freely their time, thoughts and opinions. I appreciate the time it takes to
explain ideas and I am very grateful for their considered thoughts on this research subject.
Despite this outpouring of help, all interpretations and errors are my own, and I apologise
if these cause any offence.
In the UK, many friends provided a bed for the night (even for six months – thank you Bal
and Jim Salter!), a night out to escape thesis writing, and numerous small acts of kindness
and generosity, despite not having a clue why I was doing this research. Thanks also to
Varen Thillainathan for rescuing me from the fieldwork and introducing me to Singapore.
Thanks to Kirsten McConnachie and Patrick Meehan for their comments on chapter five
and thanks to my mother, Liz Brown, for proof-reading and referencing and my father,
Mike Brown, for formatting the thesis.