by Justinas STANKUS
Abstract
During the period of 2011-15 Myanmar has gone through a multitude of political reforms and a democratic “remake” is taking place now, since Aung San Suu Kyi formed the government in March 2016. This paper investigates political order that is little affected by these reforms, namely the traditional leadership structure of ethnic PA-O people in Southern Shan State, Myanmar. Yet this order has a key role in a different kind of state-building – that of PA-O Self-Administered Zone. This thesis starts by introducing key concepts, describing PA-O ethnic group and historic circumstances that shaped it. It then continues with its main inquiry into the workings of PA-O traditional leadership structure (“TLS”) and its positioning between other power structures in Southern Shan State, also mapping out where the individual actors of TLS stand in relation to each other. After a thorough investigation that was supported by a short ethnographic field work, I find that TLS functions democratically, balancing between traditional and practical, and structures like this have a certain potential in peace-building initiatives. Eventually, I argue that PA-O TLS adapt and evolve, thus they are not made redundant by modernity or alternative power structures (i.e. clergy, military, political parties). Instead, they engage in a constructive collaboration and thus reinforce their relevance in the social network. Such leadership structures are hardly replaceable because of reliance on democratic principles of representation and its positioning vis-à-vis rural communities – being the first tier of administration, closest to the people. As a sub-question I also inquired into the functioning of traditional justice system, whereas justice administration is a major function for traditional leaders. I argue that such a system may be a valid alternative to state court system, at least to rural PA-O communities, whereas it is accessible, flexible, resourceful and relatively transparent.
