{"title":"Securitization of Muslims in Myanmar’s Early Transition (2010–15)","authors":"Erin Bijl, Chris van der Borgh","doi":"10.1080/13537113.2021.2003624","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Between 2010 and 2015, as Myanmar transitioned from authoritarian rule to a more liberal and democratic state, its Muslim population increasingly faced hate speech and violence. This article goes beyond analyses that regard the growing anti-Muslim sentiment as a consequence of a liberalized media environment, enabling people to voice long-standing grievances and prejudice. Rather, the notion of a “Muslim threat” to Myanmar’s Buddhist population is approached as the outcome of a dynamic process of securitization in which an alliance of political and religious elites was forged whose discourse changed the rules of the political field, forcing the reform-oriented opposition into strategic silence. It is argued that in the early period of liberalization, anti-Muslim frames were normalized and thus shaped the securitization of Muslims.","PeriodicalId":45342,"journal":{"name":"Nationalism and Ethnic Politics","volume":"28 1","pages":"105 - 124"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2021-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nationalism and Ethnic Politics","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2021.2003624","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ETHNIC STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract Between 2010 and 2015, as Myanmar transitioned from authoritarian rule to a more liberal and democratic state, its Muslim population increasingly faced hate speech and violence. This article goes beyond analyses that regard the growing anti-Muslim sentiment as a consequence of a liberalized media environment, enabling people to voice long-standing grievances and prejudice. Rather, the notion of a “Muslim threat” to Myanmar’s Buddhist population is approached as the outcome of a dynamic process of securitization in which an alliance of political and religious elites was forged whose discourse changed the rules of the political field, forcing the reform-oriented opposition into strategic silence. It is argued that in the early period of liberalization, anti-Muslim frames were normalized and thus shaped the securitization of Muslims.
期刊介绍:
Nationalism & Ethnic Politics explores the varied political aspects of nationalism and ethnicity in order to develop more constructive inter-group relations. The journal publishes case studies and comparative and theoretical analyses. It deals with pluralism, ethno-nationalism, irredentism, separatism, and related phenomena, and examines processes and theories of ethnic identity formation, mobilization, conflict and accommodation in the context of political development and "nation-building". The journal compares and contrasts state and community claims, and deal with such factors as citizenship, race, religion, economic development, immigration, language, and the international environment.