This week’s New Pubs features You and Li on BRI-related Chinese migration in Myanmar; Akhter-Khan et al theorizing the exiled Burmese activist; and Naw Pe The Law et al on the Karen Women’s Organization.
See our Recent Publications page for all of the citations and for past weeks, and if anyone wants a PDF but is excluded by pay wall, please email us and we will help if we can.
Date: 17 February 2026 Time zone: 5.30-6.30pm AEDT, 1-2pm MMT, 7.30-8.30am CET Venue: register for online here
Description
The third and final phase of Myanmar’s tightly controlled election concluded in late January, confirming the unsurprising dominance of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in a poll without credible political challengers. Held in parallel with escalating regime offensives in resistance-controlled areas, the vote took place against a backdrop of ongoing repression, including the wielding of a harsh new electoral law that outlawed criticism. Voting was not possible in dozens of townships across the country that are held by groups opposed to Myanmar’s military, and key members of the country’s most popular political party, ousted in the 2021 coup, remain detained – along with thousands of others. What does the conduct and outcome of this election foretell for Myanmar’s near-term political future, including ongoing conflict? What may be the practical effects of this rebranding of dictatorship, however unconvincing? And how might relationships between the USDP and the military take shape in the coming months as key figures jostle for positions of power in Naypyidaw?
Joining us to discuss these issues as part of a panel are Su Mon Thant, Senior Analyst for the international organisation Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), Tharindu Damith Abeyrathna, Senior Program Officer at the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL), Min Khin Maung Yin, a freelance researcher with over three decades’ experience in political and social development, and Morten Pedersen, Senior Lecturer in International and Political Studies at the University of New South Wales (Canberra), who will chair the session. Each panellist will give opening remarks, up to 10 minutes each, followed by questions from the audience for the remainder of the hour.
Speakers
Su Mon Thant is an expert in conflict dynamics and democracy in Asia. She is an Asia-Pacific Senior Analyst in the international organization Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED). She holds an MA in Politics and International Relations from Keele University (UK) and is a 2025 Research Fellow for the Myanmar-Australia Visiting Fellowship Program at the University of Melbourne, and The Australian National University. She has researched Myanmar’s politics and society for over a decade, including as an accredited observer of the 2015 and 2020 Myanmar elections.
Tharindu Damith Abeyrathna holds the position of Senior Program Officer for Campaign and Advocacy at the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL). Tharindu served as the resident officer in Myanmar on behalf of ANFREL. In this capacity, he played a significant role in advancing the cause of free and fair elections, while also enhancing the capacity of civil society, media, and election management bodies in the country. Tharindu holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Colombo and is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democratization, underscoring a commitment to advancing democratic values and electoral integrity in the Asian region.
Dr Min Khin Maung Yin is a freelance researcher, senior adviser, and course convenor working with several organisations. He has over 30 years of experience in political and social development, with a particular focus on conflict analysis and peacebuilding. He holds a PhD in International and Political Studies from the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Canberra. He also earned a Master of Diplomacy and a Master of Public Policy from The Australian National University.
Chair: Dr Morten Pedersen is Senior Lecturer in International and Political Studies at the University of New South Wales Canberra (Australian Defence Force Academy) and a former senior analyst for the International Crisis Group in Myanmar. In addition to teaching and research, he has worked as a policy advisor on Myanmar politics and development affairs for the United Nations, the World Bank, the European Commission, the Australian government, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari, among others.
This week’s New Pubs features Chambers on women’s care work and political placemaking on the Myanmar/Thai border; Bowser on the political economic foundations of the colonial-era conflict between Rohingya and Rakhine; and Mandelkorn on the political-ecological foundations of the Saya San rebellion.
See our Recent Publications page for all of the citations and for past weeks, and if anyone wants a PDF but is excluded by pay wall, please email us and we will help if we can.
This week’s New Pubs features Simpson et al on understanding Myanmar environmental activism through assemblage thinking; Steinmüller on the lack of egalitarianism in the Wa hills; and Egreteau on hunger strikes in late colonial Burma.
See our Recent Publications page for all of the citations and for past weeks, and if anyone wants a PDF but is excluded by pay wall, please email us and we will help if we can.
This week’s New Pubs features Aung Naing’s edited volume Assemblages of Myanmar; Loong on foreign aid, civil society, and post-colonial state-building; and (only because our queue is empty and we only had two texts this week!) Prasse-Freeman on how laborer debility can spur dispossession in peri-urban Yangon.
See our Recent Publications page for all of the citations and for past weeks, and if anyone wants a PDF but is excluded by pay wall, please email us and we will help if we can. And please send in your texts so we can feature them.
This hybrid launch will take place online and in-person at the UNSW Law & Justice Building (Level 2 Adrian Cameron Room).
February 2026 marks five years since the military coup in Myanmar. In order to commemorate this date, we will launch the book, The Palimpsest Constitution: The Social Life of Constitutions in Myanmar. This event is not a celebration but rather a reflection on aspirations for constitutional reform amidst military rule and war in Myanmar. The case of Myanmar is an example of the kinds of tragedies that are part of the social life of constitutions, mirroring key themes in the book.
The panel will be chaired by Professor Bronwen Morgan and will feature author Professor Melissa Crouch, along with comparative and interdisciplinary reflections on the book by Professor Malini Sur (WSU) and Dr Visakesa Chandrasekaram.
This week’s New Pubs features Passeri on Myanmar’s post-coup foreign policy; Loong on the ethics and benefits of volunteering while researching (in Burma); Rahman and Sameen on how refugee camp education is reshaping Rohingya gender norms.
See our Recent Publications page for all of the citations and for past weeks, and if anyone wants a PDF but is excluded by pay wall, please email us and we will help if we can.
This week’s New Pubs features Ma Khin Mar Mar Kyi’s book on women fighting dictatorship in Burma; Chiu on speculative urban governance in war-torn Myanmar; and Li and Su on China-sponsored infrastructure construction in Myanmar (and Laos).
See our Recent Publications page for all of the citations and for past weeks, and if anyone wants a PDF but is excluded by pay wall, please email us and we will help if we can.
Find the new Journal of Burma Studies (29.2) issue here, with the following articles:
Palmiano Federer, Julia, Aye Myat Su Wai, Laura O’Connor, Mariana Savka. “Special Issue Introduction: Rebuilding Prospects for ‘Peace’: Gender, Civil Society, and Informal Spaces in Post-Coup Myanmar.” Pp 205-227 https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2025.a979882
Loong, Shona, Lotty (Charlotte) Clare, Sunita (Naw Moo). “Tending to Territories of Life: Indigeneity, Gender, and Peacebuilding in the Salween Peace Park.” pp. 229-275 https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2025.a979883
Tin Maung Htwe. “Feminist and Marxist Perspectives on Women’s Labor Leadership in Myanmar’s Spring Revolution” pp. 277-318 https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2025.a979884
Haines, Rebecca. “Women’s Principled Tactical Pluralism: Understanding the Cases of Sisters2Sisters and the Spouses of People’s Soldiers.” pp. 319-368 https://doi.org/10.1353/jbs.2025.a979885
This week’s New Pubs features Myo Naing and Zou with an entire book on 2023’s Operation 1027; Saha on elephant capital at the end of empire in Myanmar; and Chakhesang on sacred spaces amidst conflict in southeast Myanmar (and northeastern India).
See our Recent Publications page for all of the citations and for past weeks, and if anyone wants a PDF but is excluded by pay wall, please email us and we will help if we can.
Burma Studies Group 