ABSTRACTED FROM INTRODUCTION: Many of the economic, demographic, and social changes animating land disputes in Vietnam are also sweeping across other countries in East Asia. The aim of this Report is to provide comparative insights into land-taking disputes in three East Asian countries—China,…

For centuries, farmers in the mountainous region of mainland Southeast Asia have practiced shifting cultivation, with plots of land cultivated temporarily and then allowed to revert to secondary forest for a fallow period. Today, more than one million hectares have been converted to rubber…

This paper examines the main drivers of resource conflict in Myanmar. The author first looks at the major resource-related projects that could crate conflict in the country, namely the Myitsone hydroelectric dam project, the Letpadaung copper mine and the Shwe oil and gas project. He then…

Change is taking place in Myanmar. Since this ethnically and geographically diverse country elected its first civilian government in 2010, a series of rapid and dramatic reforms have taken place to allow freedom of expression, an opening of the economy and the consolidation of peace. The…

FIRST PARAGRAPH: The historical weight of the political culture of development in Burma – now more commonly referred to as Myanmar – must not be discounted during the democracy-neoliberal reform era. National development discourse and practice in Myanmar has combined elements from monarchical…

In this report, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) outlines the findings of its recent survey of households forcibly displaced by the Thilawa Special Economic Zone development project in Burma. The Japanese government and three Japanese companies partnered with the Burmese government and a…

ABSTRACTED FROM OPENING PARAGRAPHS: Land confiscation is one of the leading causes of protest and unrest in Burma, having led to the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in recent years. It also undermines Burma’s fragile peace processes. The 2008 constitution and subsequent…

ABSTRACTED FROM THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Part 4: During the transition, businesses, government and development partners need to take steps to fill the existing gaps in Myanmar’s legislative framework on the protection of the environment, society and human rights. The Government has an immediate…

Synopsis of the Paper:
"It is most fundamental to be able to hear voices of farmers as they are in resolving farm land
problems which pose the greatest challenge to Myanmar. Therefore, it is expected that the
"Voice From The Farm" paper will be supportive to a…

Mexico may be hitting the perfect storm when it opens its energy resources to foreign investors...
Against the backdrop of Mexico's ever-widening gap between rich and poor, growing violence, and stalled economy, President Enrique Pena Nieto has passed a series of economic reforms.…

Mandalay has many faces. As the last capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, Mandalay is
considered the origin of the traditional Myanmar culture. A wide variety of handicrafts
remain in practice today and are a focal point of the Buddhist practice. However, Mandalay
cannot be…

This paper examines the resettlement of refugees from Burma/Myanmar to the United
States, by focusing on the refugee experience. The ethnographic description of the
resettlement process reveals how refugees, by establishing a transnational “Myanmar”
community in the United…