Perception, Lived Experiences, and Survival Strategies for Everyday Violence: A Case Study of Civil War in Myanmar

Studies on civilian reactions to war, violence, and criminality offer valuable insights into how individuals and groups assess and cope with danger, but they rarely consider reactions to simultaneous challenges from control by armed groups and common crime. Moreover, they have rarely been analyzed in the context of living under a dictatorship. Drawing insights from 114 in-depth interviews from war-torn Myanmar/Burma in the wake of the 2021 military coup,  we argue that civilian responses to various forms of insecurity and threats against their physical survival vary depending on whether they reside in areas controlled by the military junta or contested among different state and non-state actors. We find that in junta-controlled areas, citizen responses tend to be primarily individual, while collective efforts to mitigate violence are scarce, and if they exist, tend to focus on religious and cultural activities and socio-economic survival. Yet, relatively lower levels of violence and political stability allow people to engage in long-term planning, which allows a few individuals to engage in limited forms of “quiet” or strategic support for resistance. By contrast, in contested areas, citizens engage in a wider range of responses, including more collective organization to mitigate violence or resist the junta. Yet, given relatively higher levels of violence, individuals are forced to react to constant short-term threats to security in ways that erode organizational and social bonds. Across both types of control, people face increasing common crime, fear, and erosion of social trust, which make taking precautionary measures for protection a prevalent response regardless of levels of armed control. This study contributes to the literature by analyzing actions that are often examined separately (daily individual responses to threats and collective efforts of resistance/adaptation), demonstrating the nuanced and sometimes contradictory ways people cope with threats to their survival.