In Myanmar "othering" has severe consequences for religious groups, including contributing to escalate and sustain violent conflicts. Religious doctrine is among several other factors that inform the views on the "religious other". This paper analyzes "theology of religions" and representation of the "religious other" in one religious group in Myanmar: The majority Christian denomination, the Baptists, with a scope related to Northern Myanmar, particularly Kachin State. The findings are that there is no uniform way in which Christian Baptists in Myanmar, and related to Kachin State, deal with the "religious other". The findings suggest, however, that related to their "theologies of religions" Christian minority voices are mainly concerned with the Buddhist majority. This in a way in which the "religious other" from other religious groups are not of great concern. Conflicts and conflictual relations in which also religious identities across religious groups are present served but more as an implicit backdrop. Instead, positive social representation and explicitly encouraging peace-seeking engagement and relationships with the "religious other" were highlighted by some. Calls for cooperation among Christian groups were also highlighted. In addition, however, an important finding in the analyzed material was that there to a great extent was a Christian inter-group positioning with “in-grouping” and “out-grouping” - including affirmation or rejection of the "theology of religions" - of other Christian sub-groups or individuals. As such, the negative "othering" by some Christians were interestingly not mainly concerned with the "religious other", but with the "denominational other".

For much of its recent history, the Kachin State of northern Myanmar has been wrought with civil warfare that has come to define its image from the outside, as well as being a key signifier in the conceptual life worlds of many of its ethnic nationalities. While Myanmar is currently witnessing significant – if still uncertain – political and economic transitions, the Kachin State remains largely marginalized from these processes. Rather than an absence of state power, however, this marginalization had led to competing projects of statecraft vying over resources, military control and popular legitimacy in the highly fragmented territorialities. In this thesis I engage this complex landscape through the nexus of formal schooling, organized religion, and ethno nationalist politics. My primary ethnographic focus is on the emergence ‐ of several private schools led by a younger generation of Kachin educators. I am asking why these schools arose at this point in time and what has motivated their leaders to strive for institutional autonomy in settings long characterised by a scarcity of human and material resources. I argue that, in addition to their explicitly stated pedagogical aims, these initiatives are serving particular visions of social and political development, defined by Christian moralities and ethno‐nationalist ideologies. As such, their practice can be read as a form of critique towards the established systems of schooling and governance led by the central state of Myanmar, as well as that of the Kachin Independence Organization, the main contender for political self‐determination in the area. Decades of perceived marginalization of the Kachin populace of northern Myanmar are the principal motivator for the leaders of these educational projects. However, important points of tension also exist within the Kachin society itself, both in the fields of schooling and religion. A focus on the institutions of private education thus enables me to ask questions about the nature of local political authority, ethnic identification, and the influence of organized religion more generally. By employing a historical perspective to complement my ethnographic material, I am tracing the emergence of ideas, practices, and institutions of schooling that were born from the missionary encounter and decades of military conflicts. These, together with the more recent cosmopolitan ideas of modernity, lie at the heart of contemporary efforts to provide alternative paths to schooling, and to attain the dreams of social development for the Kachin society that the educators seek.

This thesis argues that Myanmar's China policy since 1988 has been jointly determined by systemic imperatives and domestic factors. To make this argument logically acceptable, I create a neoclassical realism model of 'strategic preference'. The strategic preference is the intervening variable which decides the state's reactions to external environments. It assumes that states will adopt active diplomacy if they have an 'integration' strategic preference, and that otherwise, they will to be neutral about foreign affairs or isolated from the world. The external environments are divided into inclusive and restrictive ones, where the former means economic and political competition between great powers, while the latter refers to military confrontation between them. The hypothesis is that states are more likely to hedge against the threatening state when they have an 'integration' strategic preference and are faced with an inclusive external environment. Alternatively, states will keep their distance from the threatening state. In the case of Myanmar, it formulated an 'integration' strategic preference in 1988 because the domestic politics remained stable and moderate leaders were in charge of foreign affairs. Meanwhile, it faced a high threat from the US and great opportunity of gaining benefits from China. Given this, Myanmar engaged closely with China and thus resisted the US. However, Myanmar switched to the 'isolation' strategic preference after 2004 and confronted moderate Sino-US competition, thereby keeping both China and the US at a distance. Myanmar then revived the 'integration' strategic preference in 2011 and was faced with high risks of over-depending on China and a good chance of re-approaching the US. Hence, Myanmar improved relations with the West and fostered relations with ASEAN, India, and Russia to balance the rising Chinese influence. It also attempted to reduce its over-dependence on China by decreasing Chinese investment and slowing down its strategic partnership with China. The successive NLD government inherited the 'integration' strategic preference and faced strong US criticism. Therefore, it enhanced engagement with China to relieve the US pressure while strengthening relations with neighbouring countries to balance China's influence. Myanmar has stabilised bilateral ties and won the support of China through the high-level exchanges between the two countries; it has benefited greatly from the close bilateral economic and defence cooperation. Nevertheless, Myanmar has expanded the country's trade and investment partners and aid resources, diversified its foreign relations, and promoted defence cooperation with other military powers, thereby selectively reducing its reliance on China. However, Myanmar's balancing act is a highly restrained one because of its vulnerability and limited access to external resources, especially the strong political support and economic assistance from other great powers, such as the US in particular. In the near future, Myanmar will continue to give top priority to engagement with China, while gradually expanding its balancing act.

This thesis evaluates the policy intentions, practices and effects of two different types of School-Based Management (SBM) initiatives in Sri Lanka: the Programme for School Improvement (PSI) and the Child-Friendly Schools Initiative (CFSI). Moreover, it examines the similarities and differences between these two initiatives and, when they co-exist in the same school, the ways in which schools have integrated them. PSI is the national SBM initiative of Sri Lanka introduced to the schools during 2006-2011 following a prolonged process of designing and consensus building which started in the 1990s. Running parallel to PSI, the CFSI - a rights-based approach to education which also has SBM features - is being implemented in selected primary schools. The policy discourse of SBM/PSI focused on the proposition that schools should be empowered to meet the expectations of their communities and that the administrative decentralisation which had shifted power from national to provincial levels was not addressing adequately disparities between schools. At the same time, there was scepticism as to whether SBM would be able to address the issues of a heterogeneous school system. CFSI was introduced by UNICEF in response to the government's request to strengthen disadvantaged schools. The policy intentions of these two initiatives were investigated through interviews with key policy officials and with the representatives of development partner agencies who assisted PSI and CFSI. The influences of the policy-intents of PSI and CFSI on organisational practices, their effects, similarities, differences and complementarities were explored through six school case studies and experiences of the principals, teachers and parents. The thesis reveals that PSI is expected to empower schools with autonomy for making collaborative decisions, create a sense of ownership among the school community and permit improvement of schools. CFSI is intended to promote inclusiveness, child-centredness and democratic participation. They are both, in principle, guided by the concerns for ensuring equitable opportunities for all to learn, improving the quality of education which is judged by student learning outcomes and improving efficiency in resource allocation and use. At the school level, each case-study school has forged collaboration between school-parent-community and ensured democracy in decision-making. School-based decision-making is promoted by PSI through a set of Ministry guidelines and by CFSI through a participatory approach recommended by UNICEF and the Ministry, but having less official ‘force' than PSI. Both initiatives have influenced to increase parents' contribution in the school physical infrastructure development and in the educational projects. School-based planning has been promoted by both initiatives, and in some cases has resulted in the production of two separate plans. Some schools have combined these plans in accordance with the thematic structure of national Education Sector Development Framework. These initiatives have involved principals and teachers in decision-making, planning and implementation of programmes in collaboration with the community. The emphasis given to school-based teacher development is, however inadequate. Nonetheless, the increases in attendance and retention was influenced by CFSI rather than PSI, while both initiatives have had a positive influence by improving student learning and performance through various interventions at school and learning at home. The several ways in which these initiatives are integrated by schools, ensuring that each contributes towards filling the gaps left by the other are described. Considering their complementarities, the positive features of management in PSI and rights-based approach to education in CFSI in a rational manner, the author recommends an integrated ‘Learner-Friendly School-Based Management Model' which will effectively address learners' needs. It also recommends a methodology to pilot this model in Sri Lanka, thus putting the new knowledge produced by this research into practice.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore how education in one girls' government school teaches understandings of citizenship and to identify potential links to the reproduction of identity-based violence in Pakistan. This in-depth qualitative case study was conducted in a girls' government model school. This study focuses on curriculum and school practices of the secondary school section. Data was collected through interviews with staff, a participatory workshop with teachers, focus groups with students, classroom observation, and informal discussions. I also analyzed the Pakistan Studies textbook used in the secondary section of the school. Using theories of critical education, intersectionality, and Galtung's violence triangle, I argue that despite recent political and curricular reform attempts, education in Pakistan reproduces a homogeneous concept of a legitimate citizen (male Sunni Muslim). While this evolved to unite an ethnically diverse Pakistan, it has contributed to identity-based violence (direct, structural, and cultural) against those that do not fit within this conception. In this school, the Pakistan Studies textbooks create an official discourse that promotes this gendered and exclusionary citizenship. I show how the Pakistan studies textbook uses history and constitutional lessons to promote citizenship that is based in a masculine Islam meant to oppose the Hindu ‘other' as well as to promote the exclusion of women and minorities from full citizenship. I also found that teachers own understandings of citizenship, which closely reflect the text, are deeply rooted in their understanding of their notions of the ideal Muslim woman. I find that the school rewards gendered behavior in both students and teachers. I then explore the extent to which the school reproduces other social divisions including religious, ethnicity, and class. I find that the school simultaneously reproduces, mitigates, and exacerbates these tensions. I then argue that the teachers' and students' understandings of the role of women to counter violence is rooted in the notions of middle class women's roles as mothers and supporters of men that are reproduced through school practice. This study furthers the knowledge on the links between education and violence by showing that promoting a homogeneous ideal of a citizen through education, while intended as a nation building project, can contribute to structural, cultural and direct violence against women and minorities, limiting their agency to engage in social transformation.

The continuing disadvantage that poor and marginalized communities face in low-income countries is well recognized but international initiatives and government policies still fall short of providing sustainable quality education. The recently published Global Monitoring Report 2013 – 2014 “Teaching and Learning: Achieving Quality for All” recommends strategies for solving the quality crisis through attracting the best teachers, getting them where they are most needed and providing incentives to retain them. Few would dispute these strategies but their achievement is problematic, given the vastness of the challenge in a financially constrained global environment. This study is predicated on the acknowledgement that the strategies proposed provide too narrow a focus and that poor quality education is also due to contextual factors that have been relatively ignored. These contextual factors are investigated through this research. This research study explores community perceptions of school benefits as a lens through which to engage with marginalized rural communities' conceptualization of “quality” education. It utilizes Tikly and Barrett's (2011) framework for analysing quality education with its three key dimensions of inclusion, relevance and democracy. It investigates the factors and processes that are shaping perceptions of benefits within the three environments of policy-making, school and community. The research study uses a qualitative methodology, employing a critical stance, but engaging also with the insights of Bourdieu and Foucault viewing power as both repressive and productive. This research engages with the “regimes of truth” that have constrained social action as well as the process of discourse deconstruction and reconstruction that has shaped agency and facilitated social change. This is a multiple case study of four rural primary schools in marginalized communities in Sindh, Pakistan (two opened in 2002, two in 2007), using purposive sampling to maximize data heterogeneity. Data, mostly qualitative, was generated from semi-structured interviews with community leaders, school management committee members, parents and teachers. Focus groups were conducted with school graduates and teachers. Photographs were used as a participatory tool to facilitate interview and focus group discussions. The findings indicate that context-led policy, contextualized teacher training, pedagogy and curriculum and community leadership that facilitates agency are the key factors shaping perceptions of benefits. Emerging from these factors is both the employment of local teachers who can experience a transformational process that enables them to bring social change and a dynamic interaction between pedagogy and benefits. Positional benefits are highly valued with social skills being key to the development of social capital, which the findings indicate should be included in the discourse of “quality” education. The study provides empirical data demonstrating how the recent theoretical frameworks for quality education are being “fleshed out” in specific contexts and addresses issues raised in quality debates. It makes recommendations for the complementary role of non-government schools in the post-2015 EFA strategy and the provision of quality education in hard to reach areas characterized by poverty and marginalization in the global South.

The recent emphasis on the importance of English language teaching and learning in public universities in Pakistan has resulted in the introduction of a new English as Second Language (ESL) programme including revised teaching approaches, content and assessment. However, to date, no rigorous and independent evaluation of this new programme has been undertaken particularly with respect to students' learning and experiences. This thesis seeks to address this gap by examining the effects of the new ESL programme on students' learning experiences, as well as teachers' perspectives and the broader institutional context. The study uses a qualitative case study approach basing its findings on the responses of purposively sampled students (n=17) and teachers (n=7) from the Institution of English Literature and Linguistics (IELL), University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan (UoSJP). Semistructured interviews, observations and document review were used as the main tools to collect a wide variety of data. The analysis of the data was informed by different theories including Symbolic Interactionism, Community of Practice, and Bourdieusian notions of habitus, field and capital. These theories offered an approach which bridges the structure and agency divide in understanding students' learning experiences. The study employed the concepts of institutional influences to examine the impact of UoSJP's policies and practices on the teaching and learning of the ESL programme. The concept of community, which is understood as the community of the ESL classroom, is used to examine the interactions of students-students and students-teachers. The notion of identity was used to examine the interaction of students' gender, rurality, ethnicity and previous learning experiences with different aspects of the ESL programme. In relation to institutional influences, the study found that UoSJP's institutional policies and practices are shaped by its position in the field of higher education, and in turn, these influences shape teaching and learning in the ESL programme. Specifically, UoSJP defines its capital as higher education for all, which in practice translates as admitting students who have been rejected by other universities and/or cannot afford private universities' high fees. In order to meet the language needs of disadvantaged students from non-elite English and vernacular medium schools, UoSJP offers the ESL programme. This initiative aims to improve students' English language skills in their first two years, and to fulfil requirements set by the Higher Education Commission (HEC). However, the university's treatment of the ESL programme significantly impacts on teaching and learning in terms of its policies and practices, in relation to faculty hiring, teacher training, relationship between the administration and ESL teachers, number of students in ESL classrooms, assessment criteria, ESL quality assurance, and learning support resources like up-to-date libraries. In relation to the community of ESL classroom, the study found that participation plays an important part in defining students' roles and their relationship with teachers and peers in the classroom. Teachers' pedagogic strategies and large classes were found to be influential factors affecting students' participation in the classroom. It was found that teachers use different pedagogic strategies, which define them as facilitators or knowledge transmitters accordingly. The facilitators allow students' full participation in the classroom by listening to their opinions, respecting their arguments, appreciating their feedback, acknowledging their contributions to the class, and demonstrating empathy to their problems. When in class with these teachers, students feel encouraged, confident and motivated to participate in the classroom. By contrast, the knowledge transmitters prefer monologue lectures when teaching ESL, and strongly discourage students' participation. Students are usually not allowed to ask questions or express their concerns to these teachers. In their presence, students revealed that they lacked confidence, and felt discouraged and demotivated from participating in the classroom. Moreover, in the context of large classes only students sitting on the front-benches are given opportunities of participation, while those at the back of the classroom are considered to be educationally weak, inactive, therefore ignored in interactive activities. The treatment of these students by teachers and students at the front of the class alike limits their participation in the classroom. In relation to identities, the study found that students frequently foreground their gender identities, rural-ethnic identities and identities as medical or engineering students in interaction with different aspects of the ESL programme. Some aspects of ESL textbooks including units which depict stereotypical gender roles conflict with female students' gender identities; units which are based on exclusively Western, urban contexts conflict with students' rural-ethnic identities, and units that are based on graph-comprehension conflict with students' identities as medical students. While others aspects of ESL textbooks particularly those units that are constructed on experiences and activities which are exclusively associated with men in Pakistan such as driving complement female students' gender identities; and those units which are set in a village, and focus on the culture and life of villages complement students rural-ethnic identities. Moreover, it was found that female students struggled in maintaining their role as ESL learners in comparison with their gender roles as sister and daughter. This thesis provides new insights into students' learning experiences and ESL in higher education. It also contributes to and enhances the literature on higher education in Pakistan. Furthermore, it enables policy-makers to reflect upon their policies, as well as provides suggestions to the UoSJP and its teachers.

The purpose of this thesis is to comprehensively explore Theravāda missionary activity. The philological, textual, theoretical, and ethnographic methods used to investigate the historical, sociopolitical, religious, and ethical aspects of early Theravāda, the U.S. Vipassanā (Insight) meditation movement, and modern Burmese Theravāda revealed nuanced meanings in the descriptions of these adherents’ endeavors with respect to proselytizing, converting, and the concept of missionary religions. By exploring the secular features that contributed to their religious appearances, a more developed contextualization of Theravāda “activity” reshapes understandings of the larger concept of missionary religions. I argue that what has been maintained in the establishment of early Theravāda, and continuance of Theravāda thereafter, is the preservation of a secular activity with respect to resolving diverse sociopolitical and ethical tensions through religious articulations and practices of tolerance and egalitarianism. In brief, the first chapter is a philological study on the Pāli word “desetha” or “preach.” The word desetha, and thus its meaning, is traced to its Prākritic form—a contemporaneous language more likely spoken by Gotama Buddha—to posit a more accurate translation for this word. Next, a theoretical examination into early Theravāda’s sociopolitical, ethical, and religious environment demonstrates the larger secular, rather than religious, features that contributed to this ancient movement’s emergence. A contextual analysis comparing the emergence and establishment of the “secular” U.S. Vipassanā (Insight) meditation movement to that of early Theravāda follows, in order to explore how the former aligns with Theravāda missionizing. Lastly, an ethnographic study on Burmese Buddhist monastics is presented. In relation to missionary activity, the Abhidhamma, a Buddhist doctrinal system, not only provides Burmese Buddhist monastics with a system of applied ethics that shapes how they interact with Buddhists and non-Buddhists in America, but also helps to explain the larger concern of viewing such activity as strictly “religious.”

<p>The debate on international intervention is a very difficult topic. As a main issue in it, the differences lies on decisions regarding - what, when and who. This essay will address the importance of accurate intervention in disaster affected states. It will identify what types of interventions that is most commonly used and if there is one type of intervention that are the most effective one. It will show if the disaster in it self related to the area in question will determine what kind of intervention that should be used – is the identification of them two the deciding factor or is there one particular intervention model that is better to use? The essay will also question whether intervention might lead to a weakened state sovereignty and if sovereignty has to be protected and be taken in consideration before any intervention can be done. To address this, recent history is analysed with two cases as examples – the Darfur conflict and Cyclone Nargis that struck Burma in 2008. The conflict in Darfur is a man-made disaster which  lead to plenty of suffering and many lost lives. Cyclone Nargis was a natural disaster which in it self caused many deaths. In Darfur the discussion regarding what, when and who delayed actions from the international association. It was also disrupted by the government in Khartoum constant refusals of help from the outside world. In Burma, relief could be sent in the initial phase, however, the government was hard to cooperate with, which made it quite impossible for the relief to reach all the affected areas. Putting the empirical part against those theories that has been brought up in this essay, the thesis of it has been answered with the conclusion that whether one type of intervention model is being used or another model, the most important part in any kind of intervention is that the humanitarian assistance along with the provision of needs for survival will reach those who has been affected by a disaster, also, not to create any kind of pressure against the affected state in question, this to prevent further conflicts.</p>

The debate on international intervention is a very difficult topic. As a main issue in it, the differences lies on decisions regarding - what, when and who. This essay will address the importance of accurate intervention in disaster affected states. It will identify what types of interventions that is most commonly used and if there is one type of intervention that are the most effective one. It will show if the disaster in it self related to the area in question will determine what kind of intervention that should be used – is the identification of them two the deciding factor or is there one particular intervention model that is better to use? The essay will also question whether intervention might lead to a weakened state sovereignty and if sovereignty has to be protected and be taken in consideration before any intervention can be done. To address this, recent history is analysed with two cases as examples – the Darfur conflict and Cyclone Nargis that struck Burma in 2008. The conflict in Darfur is a man-made disaster which  lead to plenty of suffering and many lost lives. Cyclone Nargis was a natural disaster which in it self caused many deaths. In Darfur the discussion regarding what, when and who delayed actions from the international association. It was also disrupted by the government in Khartoum constant refusals of help from the outside world. In Burma, relief could be sent in the initial phase, however, the government was hard to cooperate with, which made it quite impossible for the relief to reach all the affected areas. Putting the empirical part against those theories that has been brought up in this essay, the thesis of it has been answered with the conclusion that whether one type of intervention model is being used or another model, the most important part in any kind of intervention is that the humanitarian assistance along with the provision of needs for survival will reach those who has been affected by a disaster, also, not to create any kind of pressure against the affected state in question, this to prevent further conflicts.