Land Grabbing As A Process Of State-Building In Kachin Areas, North Shan State, Myanmar

...Like the other resource concessions, land grabbing for large scale agriculture and military purpose in ethnic areas is a military state-building strategy of Myanmar military led-government. Since 1990s, in Myanmar, a military-run dictatorship has adopted its own version of market economy. While maintaining ownership of all land, the state allocated large land concession to companies, which have strong network with generals or government officials, for logging, mining, and agribusiness purpose. Initially, investments in natural resource extraction favored local headmen and ceasefire leaders who mediated the deals and taxed commodities crossing their borders into Thailand and China...".....Paper delivered at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015.