Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2023. US$30.00, paper; US$20.00, ebook. ISBN 9781501770715.
Since the 2021 coup, Myanmar has been embroiled in protracted armed conflict, particularly in the country’s borderlands. While ethnic armed organizations occupy more than half of the territory, Myanmar military forces still control the country’s most important and populated cities. It is worth noting that the situation of the Wa Self-Administered Division in Shan State, which is often called the Wa State by Wa ethnic people, is largely exceptional.
The Wa Self-Administered Division (hereafter referred to as the Wa State) is an autonomous polity with a powerful military wing, which is known as the United Wa State Army (UWSA), one of the largest ethnic armed organizations in Myanmar. Different from many ethnic armed organizations struggling with Myanmar military forces in the borderlands, the UWSA and the Wa State have been maintaining a long-standing and durable stalemate with the military forces and the central government of Myanmar. What is behind the stalemate?
Employing an ethnographic perspective, Stalemate by Andrew Ong conducts a multilayered analysis of why and how the Wa State and its military wing have preserved a stalemate. Specifically, Ong explains that the stalemate is based on a tacit social value, which has allowed the Wa State to be “committed to staying within the Republic of the Union of Myanmar” (4), rather than claiming independence or secession from the country. In return, the Wa State has gained de facto autonomy, expressed as a “relational autonomy,” that is, “an ongoing process, informed by social values, enacted through practices and relations” (199).
What does autonomy mean to the Wa State’s leadership, elites, and inhabitants? In the words of Ong, autonomy refers to “a value in Wa Region, expressed through social meanings and material manifestations of power and authority, of self-determination and self-respect grounded in strength and wealth” (68). In other words, autonomy pursued by the Wa State has been “for development and livelihoods, not independence” (101). As a result, the decision-making mechanism of the Wa State and its military wing is different from those of the ethnic armed organizations and their affiliates.
In the foreseeable future, as long as the de facto autonomy of the Wa State does not change, it will remain neutral in the ongoing armed conflict among the belligerents, that is, the State Administration Council, the National Unity Government, and the anti-government ethnic armed organizations active in the borderlands of Myanmar.
The “relational autonomy” of the Wa State is backed by the above-mentioned social value that has been transmitted by generations, and enacted by networks of political, economic, and personal relations. On the one hand, the Wa State has been employing strategies (e.g., international engagements and stalled peace dialogues) to preserve autonomy, without triggering armed conflict with the central government of Myanmar. In 2015, the UWSA signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement with the central government and a group of ethnic armed organizations. It is possible that more ethnic armed organizations will adopt similar strategies to those employed by the Wa State and the UWSA. On the other hand, as one of the signatory groups of the ceasefire agreement, the UWSA and the Wa State have been carefully managing all stakeholder relations that could impact the strategy of preserving de facto autonomy. For example, “the Myanmar flag was carefully hoisted higher than the Wa State flag” (16). At the same time, the UWSA and the Wa State’s stances toward other ethnic armed organizations has varied according to context.
The book does not describe the conditions of the Wa State and its military wing since 2023. Are this study’s findings still applicable in explaining the Wa State’s ongoing strategies? If yes, it is worth noting the extent to which the findings could be practical for other ethnic armed organizations in Myanmar. As mentioned above, a stalemate between the Wa State and the central government is based on a consensus that the Wa State is a part of the republic of the Union of Myanmar. Without such consensus, there could be no genuine peace settlement between belligerents. Thus, the findings of this study are more practically applicable to an ethnic armed organization not struggling for independence or secession.
Ong’s Stalemate offers critical insight into why the Wa State and its military wing did not align with any belligerents after the 2021 regime change. This book is essential reading for scholars, policy analysts, and general readers interested in exploring the stalemate between the Wa State and the central government of Myanmar, as well as why and how the Wa State gained de facto autonomy.
Kai Chen
Xiamen University, Xiamen