Blackouts, Whitelists, and ‘Terrorist Others’: The Role of Socio-technical Imaginaries in Myanmar

IF 2.3 2区社会学 Q1 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding Pub Date : 2023-01-23 DOI:10.1080/17502977.2022.2152940

Stefan Bächtold

引用次数: 2

Abstract

ABSTRACT For its February 2021 coup, the military blacked out mobile internet across Myanmar. Often interpreted as an ad-hoc measure to crush a digitally savvy protest and resistance movement, I propose instead to think blackouts as co-existing practices of connecting and disconnecting that emerged before the coup. Focusing on the role of mobile internet in state formation, this article shows how digital technologies became involved in performing (state) authority in Myanmar: They co-produced both a unifying socio-technical imaginary that glossed over conflicts, and ‘terrorist others’ that are to be disconnected – thus shaping two conflicting statebuilding projects within post-coup Myanmar.

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停电、白名单和“其他恐怖分子”：缅甸社会技术想象的作用

在2021年2月的政变中，军方封锁了整个缅甸的移动互联网。灯火管制通常被解读为镇压精通数字技术的抗议和抵抗运动的临时措施，我建议将其视为政变前出现的连接和断开连接的共存做法。本文聚焦于行动网际网路在国家建构中的角色，展示数位科技如何参与缅甸的(国家)权力运作:它们共同制造了一个掩盖冲突的统一社会技术想像，以及“恐怖主义他人”，因此在政变后的缅甸形成了两个相互冲突的国家建设计划。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS-

CiteScore

5.20

自引率

20.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding is a cross-disciplinary journal devoted to critical analysis of international intervention, focussing on interactions and practices that shape, influence and transform states and societies. In 21st century political practice, states and other actors increasingly strive to transplant what they see as normatively progressive political orders to other contexts. Accordingly, JISB focuses on the complex interconnections and mutually shaping interactions between donor and recipient communities within military, economic, social, or other interventional contexts, and welcomes perspectives on political life of, and beyond, European state-building processes. The journal brings together academics and practitioners from cross-disciplinary backgrounds, including international relations, political science, political economy, sociology, international law, social anthropology, geography, and regional studies. The editors are particularly interested in specific or comparative in-depth analyses of contemporary or historical interventions and state-building processes that are grounded in careful fieldwork and/or innovative methodologies. Multi or cross-disciplinary contributions and theoretically challenging pieces that broaden the study of intervention and state building to encompass processes of decision-making, or the complex interplay between actors on the ground, are especially encouraged.