What’s in a Norm? What Normative Frameworks in Myanmar Reveal About Inclusivity

This chapter introduces the peace and conflict landscape in Myanmar and existing normative frameworks around inclusion and exclusion in Myanmar politics. I argue that political flashpoints in Myanmar’s contemporary history have forged robust narratives around political inclusion and exclusion for the country’s main conflict parties—the ethnic armed organizations (EAG) and the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces). In particular, discourses around building national unity through ethnonationalism for the EAGs and building national unity through militarized statebuilding for the Tatmadaw reveal a common discourse around unity. “Unity” can thus be seen as a key normative framework in the Myanmar context. However, while unity can be seen as a moral and political touchstone between the negotiating parties, the clashing interpretations of the concept of unity and what constitutes national unity in Myanmar forms the heart of the decades-long conflict and risks reifying existing divisions between the main stakeholders.