Pockets of autonomy: Living within different ‘encompassed’ states

In this article Annika Pohl Harrisson explores processes of state-making by the New Mon State Party (NMSP), an ethnic armed organization (EAO) that claims to represent the Mon people in south-east Myanmar. Her focus is on a specific area that is encompassed by three states in the making: the NMSP, the official Myanmar state and another EAO, the Karen National Union (KNU). The paper shows that NMSP state-making happens neither in parallel to nor through a simple separation from the Myanmar government and the KNU, but through different forms of encompassment. It introduces the concept of ‘encompassed state-making to capture the simultaneous mimicry and opposition of the NMSP’s state-making practices in relation to the other two states. This is analyzed through a citizen perspective as the article explores how local villagers navigate life in this context.

The article contributes to existing literature on state-making in the southeast Asian region by offering new and insightful knowledge about a difficult-to-access area and by considering competing state-making efforts by ethnic armed organizations on equal footing with those of the Myanmar government.

When conducting the research for this article, the author was part of by the DIIS-coordinated research project, ‘Everyday Justice and Security in the Myanmar Transition’ (EverJust), which is done in partnership with Yangon University, the Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation, and Aarhus University. It is funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the development research grant.