Middle powers as ‘peacemaking entrepreneurs’ in Myanmar’s peace process 2011–2021

Abstract

Middle powers were visible actors in Myanmar’s peace-donor landscape, from the beginning of that country’s peace process in 2011 until the 2021 coup. Considering Myanmar’s longstanding dependency on China and generally difficult relationship with larger powers, this appears to be significant. However, the literature on middle powers remains incapacitated by a definitional opacity that makes application of the term difficult, despite consistent references to their mediating capabilities. Recent scholarship has applied an ‘entrepreneurial’ lens to understanding middle power behaviour, implying middle powers are driven by a confluence of material and ideational factors. Based on fieldwork interviews with over fifty informants examining Norwegian, Japanese and Australian engagement with peacemaking in Myanmar 2011–2021, this paper expands on the entrepreneurial label and argues that middle powers in Myanmar acted as peacemaking entrepreneurs—as actors that traded upon their peacemaking reputations to secure concomitant material benefits. Nevertheless, this paper argues that engaging in peacemaking entrepreneurship proved to be problematic in Myanmar’s context, given it tended to favour incumbent power. Indeed, in stark contrast to theoretical assumptions of these actors as neutral intermediaries, this paper raises serious questions about the contribution of middle powers in peacemaking.

Keywords:

• Entrepreneurial states
• international relations theory
• middle powers
• Myanmar
• peace processes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Australia is widely accepted as a middle power (see Abbondanza, 2021; Patience, 2014; Ungerer, 2007). References have also been made to Norway (Behringer, 2005; Jordaan, 2003) and Japan (Cox, 1996) as middle powers. Norway also has a well-known global peacemaking reputation.

2 Interview with a Western embassy official, Yangon, February 13, 2018.

3 Interview with an INGO director, Yangon, March 8, 2018; First author interview with an independent consultant, Yangon, March 28, 2018.

4 Interview with former UN official, March 14, 2018.

5 Interview with Mr. Charles Petrie, former leader of the MPSI, Yangon, March 12, 2018.

6 Interview with a UN official, Yangon, March 5, 2018; First author interview with a director of a local NGO, Yangon, March 21, 2018.

7 Interview with an Independent consultant and academic, Yangon, March 6, 2018.

8 A former think tank-based informant reaffirmed this view by discussing the visit of an Australian immigration minister to Myanmar during the reform period, who made it clear to the Australian embassy that they wanted to reduce the number of refugees coming from Myanmar.

9 Interview with a programme manager of a CSO, Yangon, March 5, 2018.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chiraag Roy

Dr. Chiraag Roy is an International Relations scholar. He completed his PhD from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University, Australia. His thesis focused on the role of middle powers as ‘peacemaking entrepreneurs’ in Myanmar’s peace process. His research interests include International Relations theory, Asia-Pacific politics, Australian foreign policy, middle power theory and peacemaking. His research has been published in Third World Quarterly, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific and Development Policy Review and he is the author of Myanmar’s Peace Process and the Role of Middle Power States (Routledge, 2022).

Anthony Ware

Dr. Anthony Ware is Associate Professor of International and Community Development at Deakin University, Melbourne. He was Director of the Australia Myanmar Institute from 2013 to 2017, and previously lectured at the University of Melbourne. He is a Development Studies scholar, and his primary research focus is on development interventions in conflict-affected situations, particularly in Myanmar. His research more broadly has examined Myanmar’s Rohingya conflict, peace process, the impact of sanctions on development, democratic transition, everyday peace, community-led local development and the role of faith and faith-based organisations. He has published more than fifty academic papers/chapters, and four books: Myanmar’s ‘Rohingya’ Conflict (Hurst, 2018, with Costas Laoutides), Development Across Faith Boundaries (Routledge, ed 2017, with Matthew Clarke), Development in Difficult Sociopolitical Contexts (Palgrave, ed., 2014) and Context-Sensitive Development: How International NGOs Operate in Myanmar (Kumarian, 2012).

Costas Laoutides

Dr. Costas Laoutides is Associate Professor in International Relations at Deakin University, Australia. His area of expertise is ethno-political conflict and its resolution. His research has been published in Third World Quarterly, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Asian Affairs, Asia Policy and Science and Society. He is the co-author of Myanmar’s Rohingya Conflict (Hurst/OUP, with Anthony Ware) and the sole author of Self-Determination and collective responsibility in the secessionist struggle (Routledge).